The Mind Is A Battlefield
by BloodStalker500
Summary: Once again, it was the end. Psycho Mantis had lost to Snake again, doomed to be a wandering spirit. However, after meeting The Sorrow and debating his fate, Mantis is sent to the world of Remnant; a world that, although peaceful and filled with exotic characters, can easily fall into war. Faced with conflicting sides and a new chance, how will the psychic soldier on?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Psycho Mantis**

 **Hello, readers! Welcome to my newest story! I know it's risky publishing a second story so (relatively) soon after publishing my first, but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head.**

 **As you might be able to tell, this isn't the regular "Raiden or Big Boss/Venom Snake and/or Diamond Dogs in Remnant" story or "Remnant in Metal Gear-esque world setting" story. I remember scrolling through the page of Metal Gear + RWBY crossovers and seeing the stunning lack of a variety of Metal Gear characters within Remnant or RWBY characters in the Metal Gear world. That's not to say the stories already written aren't good, I just find it lacking. I wanted to try to spice things up, and a couple days of non-consecutive typing and editing later, here we are. Ready? Enjoy!**

 **Dislaimer: I do not own Metal Gear or RWBY. Metal Gear belongs to Hideo Kojima and Konami and RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth.**

* * *

It was finally here. He knew it would eventually happen, it was just common sense, but Mantis had been looking forwards to this day for a long time. He felt his half shiver a bit in his shared body, the extra robotic limbs tensing in excitement.

"I know your wavelength… it brings back memories…" He and his other half stated, swerving around his target in the air and enjoying his rival's dumbfounded reaction.

"It can't be…" Solid Snake breathed aloud, craning his neck to find his foe. He was forced to focus, though, as Meryl began to groan in pain as her own arm forced her handgun to her forehead, seemingly against her own will. Mantis had to stop himself from chuckling lest he give his position away. With a casual flick of his other's finger, he sent the command from the depths of his mind to order Meryl's hand to end it…

*Blam!*

"Gah!", Psycho Mantis and his other cried as the puppet strings attached to Meryl's body were blasted off by a bullet, causing her to fall to the ground, the puppet fashioned in his likeness bouncing from the momentum of the strings snapping. All heads turned to see a young man with blonde hair toting a large sniper rifle, a trail of fresh smoke still rising from the front sight.

"Johnny!"

"Meryl!"

Meryl shakily rose to her feet, smiling happily at the man as he also ran up to her. They were so caught up in their reunion, Snake was the only one who noticed the previously dead FROG soldiers suddenly rise up from the ground, a malicious blue aura surrounding their bodies. "Wait! Akiba!" Snake shouted to warn them, already raising his own rifle. Mantis was faster, though, and telekinetically commanded the dead soldiers to open fire. Johnny reacted just barely fast enough to jump in front of Meryl and bravely took the majority of the bullets. If Mantis was still in his own body, he would've surely grinned upon seeing Snake take aim and shooting down the soldiers, the ghostly blue outline never leaving them.

"It has been a long time… Snake…", Mantis and his other jeered, sneering behind the woman's metal visor as their puppets danced under their extended arms. Mantis was practically giddy, relishing the shocked look on Snake's aged, wrinkled and hideous face that had clearly seen better days from all those years ago. Not that Mantis himself was one to judge, of course.

 _'Two hideous monsters trying to kill each other… once a murderer, always a murderer…'_

"Psycho… Mantis?" Snake asked carefully. He swore he could see his old adversary's face floating above the armored woman, the gas mask forever boring into his soul. Mantis felt his other briefly take control, the nanomachines inside her temporarily shoving him down. "No…", she said plainly, "That was another me… _Can you hear the screams_!?"

Despite the fact that he was basically forced to stand down like some servant, Mantis found himself laughing alongside the mad woman, flashbacks of his previous battle with Snake flooding his psyche, "They cry for battle… Let me hear you scream!" They shouted together, years of torment and hate beginning to rear its ugly head.

"Howl! Roar! _From the very depths of your_ _ **soul!**_ "

* * *

There it was. The disturbance he'd been searching for. In the middle of a dark yet lush cemetary, a rather tall man wearing a large and dark hood was kneeling in front of a grave. There was a fresh rose where there hadn't been one before. This was not the first time he'd done something like this, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Getting up to his feet, the man briefly took off his glasses and cleaned them, being careful not to break them again.

"Ah, yes… you've been a strange one, haven't you…?" He muttered, a strange smile on his pale lips. As he turned around to face the direction of the disturbance, he ended up walking into a young couple on the path, both looking understandably mellow to be in such a place, the young man holding a bundle of flowers that didn't seem like they were for the girl walking next to him. Even though they were in his path, the man didn't change the direction he was walking in, and instead kept walking straight ahead.

The man and the couple kept walking towards each other through the cemetary, neither side strangely giving any sign that they even noticed the other. Twenty feet apart became fifteen, then seven. Then they were right about to collide.

Then the man seemingly phased through the bodies of the young couple like they were invisible. Neither the young man nor the girl at his side seemed to notice this seemingly miraculous event. They didn't see the cloaked, bespectacled man suddenly rise up and begin floating in the air either, the strange smile never leaving his face. Pausing to hover in place, The Sorrow smiled sadly in the direction of the troubled spirit, sensing all the things possessed by all troubled spirits that had been unable to find peace. It was nothing new. This one, however… this was something else.

Then he vanished without a trace.

* * *

Despite the fact that it was an even fight, Psycho Mantis would've been grinning from ear to ear if he still had his old body. Even while outnumbered, Snake was putting up quite a fight, though that was to be expected. Any time Mantis sent a puppet after him, living or dead, the old man would react in time to either put them down or dodge an incoming bullet. Dodging one of Snake's bullets himself, Mantis and his other channeled his psychic power, suddenly teleporting directly in front of their opponent.

"Snake!" They shouted, extending one of their arm blades and swinging. With a grunt, the old soldier ducked to the left, one of the computers in the room being cleaved in half in his place. Growling in annoyance, Mantis jingled the puppet on their left arm, causing a corpse right behind Snake to suddenly raise their gun up at his head. Luckily, Snake felt his leg brush the body's side, and reflexively pointing his gun back and fired into the corpse's arm and hand, causing him to drop it. Mantis teleported above the globe hologram and commanded more of their soldier puppets to attack Snake, and was simultaneously ecstatic and annoyed to see Snake dispatch all of them, although it was clear he was tiring. For once, Mantis was glad for his second body he was in, as he didn't have to worry over stamina like Snake did.

Unfortunately, that didn't mean that Snake wasn't going to take it lying down, and aimed his shot at Mantis. The psychic wanted to laugh, as he could tell that he wouldn't even have to dodge because it was aimed slightly to his left.

 _'Wait…!'_

Right as Mantis realized what Snake was actually aiming at, the bullet already fired and struck the strings attached to the doll on Mantis' left arm. The nanomachine-manipulating doll fell to the floor, lying like a broken toy.

"My doll! Sorrow!" Both minds of Mantis' body shouted, and to Mantis' frustration, they were forced to teleport away in order to dodge a bullet aimed specifically at them. Reappearing at the side of the room, the psychic sent an unconscious soldier and Meryl, who had been re-controlled, to retrieve the doll. Snake raced ahead, however, and first knocked down the soldier sent by Mantis. In an almost slow-motion sequence, he bent down, picked up the dead-controlling doll, stood up straight and then duck-and-rolled to the side to avoid having to physically confront his ally and attaining one of the puppet dolls that Mantis dropped. Speaking of which, the psychic soldier twitched their fingers, causing the doll under his right arm to shoot two orange wisps of energy at soldiers that Snake knocked out earlier.

 _"Blackout!" "Blackout!"_

Both soldiers suddenly rose to their feet and charged Snake with blades raised in the air. Snake dodged the first man's knife, but was just barely grazed on his shoulder by the second assault. Taking out a pistol, Snake put bullets into both of Mantis' living puppets and put them down. Snorting in frustration and feeling rather uncomfortable at the asbense of the doll under their left arm, Mantis and his other teleported directly in front of Snake again and, extending their arm blade, slashed angrily at him. This time, he managed to score a direct hit, slashing through Snake's uniform and leaving an enormous gash trailing from his shoulder to his lower chest. "Agh…!" Snake grunted, falling to the floor and clutching his wound in agony. He didn't scream, though. And that was something Mantis wouldn't tolerate.

"Well, well…" Mantis chided, floating directly above Snake's fallen form and extending each of their arms, robotc or otherwise, outward. "And I thought Liquid was tough. Ah, well… I suppose I should put you out your misery, Snake!" He continued, beckoning Meryl forwards with her Desert Eagle pistol forcefully kept trained on Snake. Behind the mask, Mantis felt his other briefly smirk above the endless shrieks and screams ravaging her mind.

"Mantis…." Snake began clutching his bleeding wound. Mantis cocked their head, "Hm? Last words, Snake?"

To his surprise, Snake suddenly jolted his arm out and aimed his Mk. 2 pistol straight at him. "Shut up."

*BLAM!*

Mantis screamed, jolting back and teleporting away to avoid any more possible shots. As he did so, he realized something.

He lost his other doll. Snake lunged for it, grabbed it, and because Mantis was too shocked to comprehend the loss of his doll, all he could do was send one of their blades flying at Snake before a sped-up and shrill version of his own voice from the doll reached his ears.

 _"Blackout!"_

* * *

The Sorrow was getting closer. He could sense it. The emotions, the suffering, the anguish. It seemed to be coming from two people at once, somehow merging their pain into one outcry of misery. He'd already traversed the vast sea and had found himself slowly moving through Outer Haven, past the scores of soldiers laying on the ground motionlessly and through empty hallways and rooms filled with computers and weapons.

He didn't much care for it, though, only nearing ever closer to the shrieking pain emitted by the spirit he was after. Well, two spirits, but only one was missing its living body. And that had to be dealt with.

 _'Just what are you after?'_

* * *

Psycho Mantis was in tremendous pain. Which was saying a lot, in own doll had taken command of him, forcing him to writhe and suffer as the body he now inhabitated was contorted and bent in ways it shouldn't have, feeling his spirit itself shake within the nanos that flowed through his other's veins and their literally beastly armored suit. He was just barely able to keep watching when the armor flew apart, releasing his other from her prison and seeing her cry and scream for forgiveness for her supposed cowardice so many years ago.

After she had been dealt with and lay curled up like an innocent baby, the screams from her mind finally subsiding, Mantis was left alone in the abandoned nanomachines of the armored Beast suit. He saw Snake panting heavily, another scar on his side from barely dodging Mantis' throwing knife moments prior when he fired the Psycho Mantis doll.

 _'My own power…?'_

Just then, the abandoned helmet shuddered where it lay. It did not go unnoticed by Snake.

 _'No… I WON'T LET IT END LIKE THIS!'_

Suddenly, the discarded pieces of Screaming Mantis' suit began moving back towards the center stairs, rushing past the confounded Snake with vigor and began levitating, re-forming in mid-air seemingly of their own accord. Not taking any chances, Snake took aim at the empty, floating armor, expecting it to attack. But what Snake wasn't expecting, however, was for a familiar, sinister voice to sound from the empty vessel.

"Excellent, Snake…" Mantis appraised, feeling his spirit pull itself partially free of the armor and in full view of Snake. "… Psycho Mantis…?", Snake asked in disbelief, seeing Psycho Mantis' soul floating just above the floating armor. Mantis sensed his disbelief, his shock at seeing his enemy seemingly back from the dead.

"You don't seem to believe your own eyes… very well," Psycho Mantis stated, already having decided on a course of action, "I will show you the power of the world's greatest mind-reader, the world's greatest practitioner of psychokinesis! I'll start by reading your mind, your past… and if you'll remember correctly, you'll know this is no trick! _It's true power!_ "

With that, Mantis summoned the deep reaches of his power. He focused, the suit's arms extending in an equally focused manner, trying to find Snake's mind. If he had a physical face, he would've smirked upon finding it, the mental gate to Snake's psyche, his stores of information collected during his years after 2005.

However, it wasn't that simple. Just like breaking into someone's house while they were away, entering someone's mind required the invader to find an opening, a weak spot. Once inside, there's little stopping the intruder from doing or seeing whatever they want.

To Mantis' shock, however… there was nothing! He peered around Snake's mental walls, his psyche's strength, and there was still no weak point. Not even a memory card!

"What!? Where is your data… where is it saved!? Where's your memory card…?" Mantis questioned demandingly. How dare he… this was the first time he had been seamlessly blocked from someone's psyche! He, Psycho Mantis!

Then, suddenly, as he searched for an answer, visions of a strange, new device from an otherworldy place appeared in his mind… Playstation 3…

"Damn, your skills have improved…" Mantis admitted right before he came to a realization, "Or rather… your hardware." He corrected, cursing the ancient and powerful deity known only as Hideo Kojima and the pantheon of Sony Computer Entertainment! Luckily… he remembered something else that would bring up memories for his adversary! Not only that… but for that wretched being who had been watching them all from the very beginning!

"How about this!?" He suddenly exclaimed, his spiritual voice seeming to echo in every soul left in the room, "Witness… my psychokinesis! Put your controller down on the floor… as flat as you can!" He shouted to a thoroughly confused Snake, although Snake could tell that Mantis was strangely looking at something directly above him, as though there was someone else listening to his words. Mantis felt the otherworldy being place the device onto a flat surface.

"That's good… now, I will move your controller by the power of my will alone!"

Mantis extended his power outwards, pushing through the boundaries of space and time, moving both his spiritual and robotic arms from the suit in an attempt to focus his power.

"Grrr… Argh… HAAAGH!" Mantis shouted, finally making the psychic connection to the otherworldly object. After directing his psychokinesis in the correct ways, Mantis felt the controller… and moved it!

"… what…?" Snake murmured, suddenly looking all around him in confusion. He just felt something… strange. Like a weird buzzing…

*BZZRT-BZZRT!* *BZZRT-BZZRT!*

"YES! HAHAHAHAAA! VIBRATION IS BAAACK!" Mantis cried ecstatically, seeing Snake's physical reaction to moving the controller. He retracted his power back to his own location, and was about to formally challenge Snake to a rematch; One-on-one, no puppets or aides, just soldiers ready to die in battle. But he couldn't. Because, in the very next second, he suddenly felt the most excruciationg, the most hindering and powerful force he'd ever felt wrack his soul to its core, the very fibers of his spirit writhing and twisting under the mysterious power.

"AAAUUUHGG! G-GRRRAAAHHHRRRAAGH!" He cried, feeling his power over the abandoned armor waver under this strange force. _'Wh-What is this!? What's happening…!?'_ He searched and wracked his own mind for an answer, finding none.

 _'There you are'_ , A new voice announced. Mantis would've cocked his head in confusion if he still had a physical one and wasn't currently losing control over his own spirit. Not only was the voice completely unknown, but to Mantis' surprise, it was in perfect Russian. It had no accents from other nations, and was perfectly understood by him. Gradually looking upwards to where the voice came from, Mantis was astounded to see what looked like a deathly pale, tall man peering down from the railing above him wearing a black-hooded coat that obscured his hair and shaded his forehead, clear glasses that somehow covered his eyes from view, and a few pieces of military gear that seem outdated. Somehow, his appearance seemed familiar to the psychic soldier despite having never met this man in his life.

 _'My, my…'_ , The deathly pale man commented in his mind in Russian once again, gazing down at the spirit beneath him with a single gloved hand extended to him, and Mantis was able to make out that he was the source of this strange power bearing down on him, _'You hold quite a bit of power… and yet so much suffering. Such… sadness.'_

Mantis continued to try to wrench free from whatever force the man was assaulting him with, but to his shock, whoever this man was had outclassed the psychic by an incredible margin. It was like a mongoose attempting to pry itself free from the jaws of a lion. Both were fearsome, but one was undoubtedly far more so.

Down below them, Snake watched in complete confusion. For all he could see, Mantis' spirit was writhing in the air for no apparent reason, and could hear nothing of their conversation.

 _'Hmph. You're quite the fighter, aren't you? Very knowledgeable in the works of war and combat'_ , The ghostly man stated. Then, suddenly, his smile became more forced, his gaze turning stern and averting to the young woman clad in a skintight uniform in a fetal position on the floor. Mantis followed his gaze, seeing his former other on the floor as well. _'Unlike her. That is simply… sad. So sad…'_ , The man admonished quietly, staring at the young woman with a mix of pity and sympathy along with his crushing ghostly power increasing. Mantis attempted to push back against it, trying to see if he could figure out where he'd seen this strange figure before; Dark hood, spiritual power, glasses, perfect Russian, sorrowful eyes-!

 _'Wait…'_ , Mantis suddenly realized, casting a glance at one of his dolls on the floor next to where Snake was lefting after dropping it. It was the doll he and his other used to control the dead, having been modeled after…

 _'… No… The Sorrow…!?'_ , Mantis asked in disbelief, using his native Russian as well, turning back to the pale man above him. The Sorrow raised an eyebrow, but his grin only grew. _'As in the Spirit Medium Soldier of the Cobra Unit? Indeed I am. And what about you? I've heard plenty about you from many of your past kills; You must be Psycho Mantis… or is it Third Boy?'_ , The Sorrow affirmed, continuing to speak in a perfect Russian accent suiting his background as well as Mantis'. Unlike The Sorrow, however, Mantis did not appreciate his other name being recognized.

 _'Nobody calls me that anymore, old ghost! Why are you here!? What are you doing to me… to my spirit!?'_ , Mantis asked furiously, feeling his resistance to The Sorrow's ghostly power slowly dwindle. As strong as he was, not even Mantis' renowned psychokinesis could contend with The Sorrow's honed and overwhelming spiritual influence. And it was obvious to both of them.

 _'You are dead'_ , The Sorrow stated casually, _'You have no place in this world, spirit, and haven't had one for nearly ten years now. And yet… you have not moved on despite having no ties left to the mortal realm'_ , The Sorrow calmly continued, the ghostly fingers on his outstretched arm slowly turning into a fist, and Mantis felt even more of his ghostly energy crushing down on him. Mantis' soul cringed, and found trouble speaking back.

 _'S-So… what? Am I supposed to wander this Earth for eternity? What was the point of you coming here!? To humiliate me in front of my enemies!?'_ , Mantis demanded, his patience beginning to wear thin. Not only was The Sorrow easily overpowering him, but he had also been looking like a fool in front of Snake for the entire conversation with the spirit medium soldier so far. It was utter humiliation, and Mantis thoroughly despised it. Unfortunately, The Sorrow did not seem to enjoy Mantis' accusations.

 _'Nonsense'_ , He stated clearly, and for the first time Mantis saw his upturned grin fall into a straight, stern line on his face, and he briefly felt ten times more of the incredible spiritual force weighing down on him. It was crushing, choking, and absolute torture, with the all the bitterness from a soldier who spent his life among the living and dead. Mantis would've screamed his hungs out from the sheer pain if The Sorrow hadn't lifted it a second later. Not that he would've admitted it. _'No one should be allowed to disrespect the dead. Least of all me, Mantis'_ , The Sorrow berated him, traces of anger and disapproval lacing his tone. Mantis almost muttered an apology, but his pride refused him to do so.

 _'But… to answer your question, no. I cannot allow you or any spirit to roam this Earth longer than the physical body has, and you are clearly long overdue to leave this world, Psycho Mantis. However, your case is quite… unique'_ , The Sorrow continued, his words intriguing Mantis. As far as the psychic soldier was concerned, the only thing that set him apart was that his soul was kept on the planet by the nanomachines it had been encapsulated in… but, according to The Sorrow, it didn't end there. _'How so?'_ , Mantis inquired, feeling The Sorrow's spiritual grip lessen somewhat.

 _'It is your soul's ties to the living world. You see, Mantis, when a spirit wanders the mortal realm even after death rather than ascending to the afterlife, it is always because of something left incomplete; Revenge or unfulfilled deeds or a broken promise or other. However… you, Psycho Mantis, have nothing left here. No unsettled debts, no promises to keep, no deeds to do. Simply put, Mantis,_ you do not belong here _'_ , The Sorrow explained calmly as his signature smile reappeared from hips lips, causing Mantis to send him a questioning look underneath his mask.

Before he could argue the point, however, the Sorrow continued, _'I cannot send you to the afterlife, however. Just as there is nothing holding you here, there is nothing granting you amnesty or permission to the afterlife. Those nanomachines… your spirit has been bound to them, and to her'_ , The Sorrow gestured to Screaming Mantis' still form, ' _for so long, it has been nearly permanently chained to the world of life. So… what to do?'_ , The Sorrow finally asked, putting his other ghostly hand to his chin in thought. Mantis hated to admit it, but it was likely he would have no choice in whatever The Sorrow decided to do to his soul; His spiritual power outclassed Mantis' psychokinetic power not only in raw energy, but also due to them both being spirits, and spirits were what The Sorrow regularly dealt with using minimal effort. Which was why Psycho Mantis dreaded and despised every passing second that The Sorrow deliberated. Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait long.

 _'Well…'_ , The Sorrow muttered at last, _'You cannot stay in this realm, yet cannot go to the one after this. So… How about I send you to another living realm instead?'_ , He casually asked. Mantis blinked under his gas mask. First of all, he was surprised that The Sorrow was supposedly giving him a choice to begin with despite having much greater power. Secondly… "Another living realm"? As far as Mantis knew – which was a lot – there was only one Earth in which humanity lived. One, sad, pathetic ball of earth and water where humanity constantly quarreled and bit chunks out of itself repeatedly.

 _'What do you mean there's another living realm?'_ , Mantis inquired. Instead of a verbal response, however, The Sorrow held out both hands in front of him, his palms facing outwards. After several seconds, his palms began to glow an ethereal white. Due to having to focus his power, The Sorrow's spiritual energy loosened on Mantis' soul, the majority of it going to… whatever he was doing, and allowing Mantis to take an undead breather. He was about to ask as to just what The Sorrow was doing, but silenced himself when the mysterious white energy in his palms began to form a flat, glowing disk of white energy. Even more unsettling, the disk began floating from The Sorrow and directly above Mantis' spirit, almost like a fishing net over a school of salmon.

Now, for the first time in a long while, Psycho Mantis was scared. He was about to be essentially jettisoned from Earth to God-knows-where The Sorrow decided to send him off to… and he had no control over any of it. Throughout his life, Psycho Mantis had always enjoyed doing what he pleased; driving soldiers to insanity using his mind manipulation, traveling wherever he wanted by hypnotizing officials and ordering them to allow him to cross borders, and using his position under Liquid in FOXHOUND to slaughter all the sickening men and women of the world as he so pleased.

Now, however, he had no choice. No say, no options, just dive headfirst into this alien place he had no knowledge of and could very well be far worse than the world of Earth. Which, he knew, was saying something.

 _'What's the matter? Scared?'_ , The Sorrow began, gaining Mantis' attention again, _'Where did all of that pride and confidence go, Mantis? You… the both of us, we're warriors. Not heroes, not evil masterminds, we are warriors. Fighters. We've slaughtered thousands of men and women, seen into the minds of the most twisted minds this Earth can offer. Seen things most soldiers couldn't walk away from. At least, not with their sanity intact. You've endured this world of sadness, of pain, of bitterness and regret… why wouldn't you be able to endure what this new world can throw at you? If there's one thing I've learned, Psycho Mantis, it's that the spirit of the warrior doesn't leave you, ever. The spirit of the warrior… will always be with you.'_

Suddenly, Mantis felt his soul being levitated upwards into the disk-shaped portal, slowly but surely. Deciding that he may as well accept this newfound challenge, he relaxed his soul, steadied his nerves as the feet of his astral body vanished through the ethereal disk.

On the ground, Snake watched Mantis' astral image float upwards… and vanish, the abandoned armor once again falling to the ground and slamming onto the floor, the individual pieces scattering on the floor like rats.

* * *

At first, there was nothing. Endless nothing. Infinite white void stretching all around, and Mantis was questioning if anything that had happened was even real. And then, it came.

Incredible, intolerable pain, infecting and drilling inside him with the force of what felt like a thousand jackhammers. Mantis wanted to scream, to shriek to the void his suffering and pain from moving from one realm to another through the vast tracks of space, time and the soul. But he had no throat, no mouth, no lungs. And worse yet, no one to hear it. He could do and say exactly nothing. Then, as soon as it began, the pain began to subside, leaving his body like water through a drain. All of it, except for a dull ache in his head, causing him to bring a hand up to his gas-mask covered forehead.

 _'Wait… my hand?'_ , Mantis questioned. Throughout the nearly ten years he spent as a disembodied spirit, he could feel nothing; not the floor on his feet, not the softness on clothes, not the wind on his scalp.

Suddenly, Mantis opened his eyes in shock. He could feel everything now, all the muscles and bones crammed within his physical body. His hands twitched within the fabric of whatever he was wearing, and he could feel his toes tense. Fortunately, his gas mask was still on his face, though it felt somewhat… different, although still had its comforting leather feeling on the skin of his face.

Mantis shakily sat up, still a bit dizzy from moving locations in such a way. Everything felt so… strange. He hadn't had a physical body in almost a decade, so the feeling of his muscles moving under his skin and his bones shifting to accommodate them felt alien and plain weird. Adjusting his newly-formed eyes, Mantis felt his heart rate spike in fear when he realized he was wearing a black leather staitjacket. Luckily for him, though, it wasn't properly fastened, so he could move his arms as easily as without it, but his hands were stuck in its sleeves and therefore had difficulty moving and stretching his fingers. Examining the rest of his body, Mantis found that he was also wearing dark grey pants. Oddly, he was wearing no shoes; he was totally barefoot.

*BEEEEP!*

Suddenly, two white, flaring lights appeared in his vision, as well as a loud horn blaring out. It was hard to tell in the dark, but Mantis could see it was a car, barreling straight at him. Caught completely off-guard, Mantis' now physical brain struggled to properly create a telekinetic barrier in time, and it was clear that he was more than likely about to be run over less than five minutes of his arrival. Right as the vehicle was about to squash him, however, the car abruptly swerved to the side and narrowly avoided hitting the former psychic soldier, screeching to a halt beside him.

Mantis stayed frozen in place, not having thought that his life would've been endangered so soon after getting… wherever he was. Internally berating himself for being so slow to react, Mantis focused his attention when the car door opened and a young man hurriedly came out, rushing around the side and rushing up to him breathlessly.

"Good Oum, kid, are you okay!? What the hell were you doing sitting on the road!?", The man asked, his eyes full of worry. As soon as he got near Mantis, though, he stopped in his tracks and stared at his face with wide eyes, visibly put off by the gas mask and unfastened straitjacket. Not that Mantis cared at the moment. Just then, he realized that the man just called him a kid. A child. A young human with no knowledge of the world's true cruelty or the pain it delivered to its inhabitants.

"Hey, I'm not a-!", Mantis began, but froze.

 _'My voice… what happened to it…!?'_ , He internally questioned, demanded. It was so… young! It sounded much like his old voice – almost exactly like it, in fact – but higher pitched and slightly faster. Just when he thought it couldn't get worse, Mantis suddenly spotted a red stripe right above his eye. Nervously lifting his hand up, his managed to grip it in his fingers between the leather of his sleeve and felt a sting of pain when he tried to pull it off his head. Running his hand along his head, Mantis was dumbfounded when he felt much more stringy, unruly hair all across his previously bald scalp. Everything began to piece together: his familiar jacket, his voice, his hair…

Psycho Mantis was a child once again. Specifically, the age he'd been when he first met Liquid Snake all those years ago.

 _'H-How…!? How did—Oh, that damned Sorrow! Why am I a child again!? The_ weakest _phase of the human body, closely followed by the stupidest and most foolish!'_ , Mantis shouted internally, clenching his fists inside his sleeves. Realizing that the man was still staring at him, Mantis breathed deeply to try to calm himself. Looking around, he finally realized that he was in a rather large urban city in the middle of the night. More specifically, sitting in the middle of one out of two lanes of an asphalt road, which explains how he nearly got hit by a car. Shakily standing up on his thin legs, Mantis realized just how pathetically short he was; just barely up to the man's chest in terms of height. Growling to himself, Mantis managed to steady his deteriorating nerves.

"Sorry… I am fine, thank you!", Mantis said in a faked happy voice, trying to sound like the child that the driver of the car probably assumed he was. He immediately felt disgusted by the sound of his own voice attempting to sound actually innocent. The man nodded nervously.

"Er, okay… Do you need me to, uh, call anyone, kid?", He asked him, unnerved by Mantis' bizarre outfit. Already tired of acting, Mantis outstretched his arms into his favorite pose, and to the man's shock, began floating up into the air and looking down upon him. Mantis smirked under his mask as he felt his psychokinetic power pool and settle in his mind, as well as the terrified look on the man's face. Before he could do or say anything, however, Mantis already found an opening to the man's mind and invaded it, implanting his will into the man's psyche.

"Go away. You saw nothing", Mantis stated simply and clearly. The man nodded silently with glassy eyes, walked back to his car in a zombie-like fashion, and drove off slowly, rounding the corner and driving out of sight. After controlling the man and making him continue driving for several minutes, using the man's memory as a map, Mantis finally let go and let himself float gently down to the ground. As soon as his feet hit the asphalt, he stumbled slightly and put a hand to his forehead, his adolescent mind not quite used to using such focused telepathic power.

 _'Ugh, I nearly forgot my young mind wasn't as adept at mind controlling… Dammit…'_ , Mantis lamented as he remembered his teen years. While he boasted to be the world's greatest psychokinestist, he hadn't actually mastered controlling someone's mind until he reached about 18 years old, something he was sure only Liquid ever knew. Before then, he'd mostly stuck with basic psychokinesis, which was to say that he only moved and manipulated the physical world rather than psychological thought processes. Which was something he was now starting to regret. Feeling his brain recover, Mantis deliberated on his next course of action.

*CRASH!*

Unfortunately, he did not get very far. Mantis clearly heard the sound of glass shattering, and… rock music? Turning around, he saw a young teenage girl with dark and red-tipped hair around his current age wearing a dark red hood and blouse, a red cape, a bright red and black skirt, a belt containing bullets and a pouch, and the _largest_ scythe he had ever seen in his life. Unnecessarily huge, in fact, the blade itself nearly being as tall as he was and probably even heavier. He watched her twirl the enormous scythe around far too easily for someone of her size, moving it as easily as if she was twirling a pencil in her fingers before finally slamming the tip of the blade into the dark asphalt. Following her gaze into the broken window she must've destroyed, Mantis realized there were what looked like street thugs and goons glaring at her, all of them wearing black suits, red sunglasses and top hats. Another man stood with them, wearing a bowler hat, white suit with red lining, black pants, a grey scarf and with incredibly red hair that covered one of his eyes, smoking a cigar calmly. As Mantis watched, he realized the music was coming from a set of headphones in the girl's hands, which she switched off somewhat awkwardly after a few seconds.

"… Okay… Get her!", The white suited man growled to his henchmen, prompting them to rush outside wielding large red cleavers. It sickened Mantis that these thugs were ganging up on one unassuming girl… until he realized that he himself in his child form also looked rather harmless. That, and he had the feeling this girl could take care of herself quite easily.

 _'Eh, what right do I have to judge?'_ , He reminded himself as one goon attacked the girl with a brazen swing. To his mild surprise, the girl jumped over his blade, swung around on her scythe, and kicked him in the face with both feet hard enough to send him flying back into the broken window. As more of the men charged her, a gunshot of all things somehow fired out of her scythe, allowing her to utilize the recoil to spin around gracefully, sending one goon flying several dozen feet into the air and slamming her blade down in time to crush another into the ground. One thug wisely kept his distance and aimed his firearm at the girl, and Mantis almost felt like helping her.

Almost.

Apparently, though, he didn't have to. The girl saw the man about to fire and shot the gun somehow inside her scythe, propelling her backwards and avoiding the bullet spray. However, much to Mantis' surprise, she was somehow able to literally flash out of the way of the next few shots, zigzagging left and right in a red blur, as well as leaving… rose petals behind?

 _'Alright, just where have you sent me, Sorrow!?'_ , Mantis screamed internally, amazed at how fast the girl was able to move. Not only was she moving too easily with such a large weapon, but she was moving far faster than any human being should be able to move. Not even Snake in his prime was that fast, and he should know because he personally did battle with Snake during that time!

The girl rushed the thug, literally sweeping him off his feet and into the air. Pushing her legs off the ground, she met the thug in mid-air and sent a powerful kick his way, causing him to careen down at the feet of the man wearing the white suit in defeat.

"Hmph… Well, you were worth every cent. Truly, you were!" The man growled sarcastically, and it was only now that he was outside that Mantis could sense the sheer greed and lust emantating off of him. He'd seen it all before… the want for money, the ambitious arrogance to stand above others… it made him sick.

And it pissed him off.

* * *

"Well, Red…", Roman began smoothly, walking carelessly past the defeated goon and removing his cigar, "I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around…", he said, dropping his cigar and crushing it beneath his cane. He then raised it, pointed it at Ruby, and a small aiming reticle popped up from the base, revealing a muzzle at one end.

"… I'm afraid this is where we part ways", Roman stated menacingly, glaring straight at the girl in front of him. Without any hesitation, he fired a large flare of Fire Dust straight from Melodic Cudgel and directly at Ruby Rose, a screeching whistling sound following it as it surged through the air. Ruby aimed Crescent Rose down at the ground and prepared to use its recoil to jump up and above it. However, to her and Roman's shock, the flare shot just… stopped. Right before it was about to hit Ruby, the discharge of Fire Dust froze in mid-air, and although it continued to spark and sizzle, it simply floated there.

"Uh… Is that some kinda Sembla-?", Ruby began to ask but was cut off when the spark suddenly flew upwards, propelled by an unknown force, then sharply turned to the side and began shooting straight down to the ground like a meteor. Staring with wide eyes, she watched the flare land directly on top of a fleeing Roman Torchwick, who'd been trying to escape. As soon as the flare made contact, it exploded, launching a terrified Roman and bits of the asphalt forwards and sliding across the ground until he came at a stop near the sidewalk of the building he'd been trying to reach.

"Ow… *cough!*, *cough!*, ugh… what in the hell was that!?", Roman groaned, pressing his hands down on the pavement and wiping the ash off one of his sleeves. Suddenly, he noticed a shadow just above him, and thinking it was the girl, Roman angrily lifted his head to glare at the person.

"Okay, just what the-!?", He immediately stopped, seeing not Ruby standing there, but rather a young boy with unruly red hair, bare feet, dark grey pants, an unfastened straitjacket and, most unsettling of all, a dark, cold gas mask whose eye holes seemed to bore directly into his bone. That, and the boy wearing it was somehow floating a few feet in the air. Feeling a shiver down his spine, Roman opened his mouth nervously to speak.

"U-Um… hey there, kid. Uh, nice mask you got there—"

"Shut up", The floating boy stated clearly, his voice as young-sounding as Ruby's yet far more menacing and cold than any teenager's voice should be. Roman gulped nervously, feeling power and venom practically oozing from the boy. Almost just like her.

"Thought you could get away? That you could go on and fool such a skilled opponent?", Mantis hissed, venom lacing his voice. He began raising his arms up, and the large +40 foot tall metal ladder that Roman had tried to get to suddenly began to shake and writhe on its hinges, the bolts and bars holding it to the wall beginning to give away to Mantis' power. "You are sorely mistaken", Mantis stated, and to the surprise of everyone present, the ladder suddenly jolted and broke free from the wall, causing several bricks and bolts to fall to the ground. Mantis raised his right arm above his head as if lifting a staff or pole, and the ladder began to maneveur in the air above him accordingly, rolling and floating in the air with Mantis threateningly over Roman Torchwick.

It aggravated him. It really did. As an adult, Mantis had been able to master and improve many of his abilities from when he was a child, and one of them was reacting to other people's emotions and thoughts. He painfully remembered how vulnerable he'd been to the sheer exerted wills of others as a child, how easily he could sense their ambitions and beliefs. He'd been able to dull it down as he grew older, honing his skills to became less receptive to the thoughts of others. But now, he was back in his child self's body, and was far more receptive to the emotions and wills of others than as a grown man.

And when Mantis watched the red-themed girl fight, he could sense nearly everthing: Her willpower, her eagerness, her determination. Being a teenage girl, he wasn't surprised when the girl showed quite a bit of spunk, but she stood out among many of the children he'd met. Almost as much as Liquid's when they were children. And while she, like all children, would no doubt be soon filled with the same terrible greed and lust that filled and drove all men and women, she was still quite pure and positive for someone as clearly battle-ready and skilled as she was. And this criminal thought he could simply crush and wipe it away like a worthless insect. And for some reason, something about that rubbed Psycho Mantis the wrong way.

Apparently, mankind was the same no matter where he went.

* * *

Ruby watched the entire thing with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. She'd been just about ready to dodge that flare – like a boss! – and kick Roman's butt… but then this weird-but-kinda-cool-looking boy just made the Dust discharge fly like a star and explode in Roman's face! And, to top it all off, he made the ladder break off the wall with just a few cool poses and his mind! Now, he was about to utterly kick Roman's butt better than she'd been planning to! It was all so… so…

… Awesome!

"THAT IS SO COOL!", She shouted, bringing her hands to her face and smiling broadly. Mantis and Roman both turned to look at her incredulously. Ruby realized she just interruped what was about to happen, and waved awkwardly at the floating boy. "Oh… sorry! That's just such a cool Semblance! You kick butt!"

Mantis blinked twice. He wasn't expecting for the girl to just compliment his power. Now, getting respect for his inhuman abilities was nothing new. However… she called it "cool". Nobody had ever brazenly complimented his abilties like that before, usually either staring in disbelief, believing him to be a monster and/or fleeing in terror. It was… odd, to say the least. Then again, he reminded himself, this was an entirely new world.

 _'Wait, what on wherever-this-is is a Semblance?'_

Too distracted mulling over Ruby's words, Mantis almost didn't hear Roman growl beneath him. "Well, I guess we can agree you're both 'unique', Red", Roman grunted, glaring first at her and then Mantis, "But, all good things must come to an end… case in point!", Roman shouted, pointing up to the air. Mantis initially didn't follow where he was pointing, believing it to be an insultingly cheap trick to get away. However, he then heard the red-clad girl gasp, and then heard to clear and air-piercing sounds of a powerful turbine, and it was only then did he finally turn around to see this new threat.

What greeted him was an enormous, loud, flying… thing, flying in between the city buildings and just above the street towards them. It somewhat resembled a helicopter, but it had no rotor blades. Instead, it appeared to use several jet turbines to hover through the air. What really surprised him, however… was who appeared to be piloting the flying machine.

He couldn't see them, of course, but even if he tried, there was no tuning out the sheer malice residing in whoever was in that flying mechanism.

Thoughts were fickle things; Mantis needed to directly invade someone's mind and search carefully through their psyche to see someone's inner thoughts. Thoughts were, in essence, like little rats and flies that hid away in the shadows, requiring that they be physically found and siezed from their shelters. **Emotions** , however, were a different matter. They exuded like a powerful stench, pulling themselves out of physical bodies and shoving their way around the outside world, sometimes slithering quietly and other times rampaging about like untamed beasts, depending on their intensity.

And, whoever was inside that flying vehicle exuded one of the most hateful, most menacing and, most of all… the most _vengeful_ energy he'd felt in a very, very long time. So much anger, hatred, disgust, bitterness… if turned into a physical object, Psycho Mantis doubted even he would be able to move it.

Not that he'd ever admit it.

So stunned was he by this murderous energy that he even dropped the ladder slightly, nearly dropping it to the pavement. Suddenly, a thick and grey rope sped past him, the crook of a cane on one end and attaching itself to the flying vehicle, which had opened two doors on its side. Mantis looked back too late to see Roman speeding past him through the air while hanging onto his cane, having fired Melodic Cudgel's handle to attach to the vehicle and using its pull-in mechanism to fly up to it. Gracefully hopping inside the Bullhead, Roman tipped his hat to Mantis and Ruby.

"End of the line, kiddos!", Roman exclaimed, holding up a red crystal in his hand. Mantis scoffed, seeing Roman brandish the gem as if it could actually hurt them. He watched Roman nonchalantly toss the crystal to the ground, prompting Mantis to tilt his head to one side to avoid getting smacked in the forehead and allowing it to roll across the floor, landing at Ruby's feet. Aiming Melodic Cudgel, Roman fired another incendiary flare, prompting Mantis to teleport out of the way and letting it continue on. Raising his arm and the ladder accordingly into the air, Mantis was about to commence an attack when he suddenly heard an explosion where Ruby was standing.

*BOOM!*

"What!?", Mantis shouted, wondering how in the world the flare actually ignited the strange gem. He did a full 180 in the air, staring at a cloud of soot and ash on the ground and expecting to see the young girl's remains splattered about. To his immense surprise, he instead saw a middle-aged blonde woman wearing a long-sleeved pleated top, a purple cape and wielding a riding crop with a strange glyph shielding her and the girl from the blast.

"Move!", The woman suddenly shouted to Psycho Mantis, and before he could object to her ordering him around, she thrust her riding crop towards the Bullhead. Realizing that she was more than likely about to launch a long-range attack and that he was in the way, Mantis quickly flew up and above several purple projectiles that struck the Bullhead in several areas, causing the vehicle to sway about in the air. Hovering just above the ground near the woman and girl, Mantis watched with a smile under his mask as Roman attempted to keep his balance in the unstable Bullhead, eventually heading to the cockpit and disappearing.

Saying nothing, Glynda began glowing a light purple, and with a wave of her riding crop, another glyph appeared on top of the Bullhead, and seemingly by magic, a dark cloud roaring thunder appeared from it. With another swish of Glynda's riding crop, a barrage of icicles struck the Bullhead, stabbing into its metal frame, and Mantis saw that one such icicle pierced the cockpit. Since it didn't fall, he could only assume Roman and whoever else was inside were still alive. What happened next, however, was something even more unexpected to Mantis than summoning a hailstorm.

The source of that hate-filled aura, the carrier of so much vengeful hunger stepped out… in the form of a young woman clad in a red mini-dress over black shorts and dark high-heeld shoes, with ash-like hair sweeping from her head and onto her shoulders. Her most outstanding features, however, were her eyes literally just like fire, glowing strongly in the shadows that the frames of the Bullhead's doors cast. Her appearance and murderous energy almost made Mantis not want to fight her... But then, where would be the fun in that? And besides, if this was the world he was to live in from now on…

… He needed to test himself.

The red-dressed woman in the Bullhead posed her arms in front of her chest, strange tattooes on her arms glowing a menacing red. Suddenly, wisps of flames appeared from her hands. Then, as fast as a bullet, the enemy woman sent a large fireball straight at them from the Bullhead. Glynda prepared to form another shield, but to her shock, Mantis suddenly darted in front of her in the air between them and the fireball. To Glynda, he may have been powerful, but he was still a child whom she had a duty to protect, and was about to reach out to pull him back to when Mantis suddenly reached his arm out and telekinetically twirled the floating ladder in front of them, using it to deflect the fireball like a baseball bat and causing the end of the ladder that was struck to be partially melted instantly, the remnants of the fiery attack deflected onto a spot directly to their left and blasting the pavement it landed on several feet up.

"Hmph…", Mantis grunted casually, looking over his shoulder at a stunned-looking Ruby and Glynda, "I am very much capable of defending myself, thank you", he stated, seeming offended at the notion of anyone other than himself else defending him.

He would've said more if a sudden whistling sound hadn't started emitting from the ground. He looked back to see the red-dressed woman raising her arm up as if lifting something, and all three Ruby, Glynda and Mantis noticed the ground beneath them suddenly begin to glow. Quickly realizing something bad was about to happen, Glynda and Ruby flipped backwards and Mantis teleported, avoiding a sudden explosion beam blasting upwards from where they previously stood. The psychic reappeared higher up in the air, directly across the woman in the Bullhead.

For a moment, the two locked eyes. Mantis peered into the feminine yet fearsome eyes casting a fiery glow in the shadows around the woman while she stared into the cold, empty eyes in Mantis' dark gas mask.

Then Mantis turned his attention back to his newfound allies – wait, were they his allies? How long have they been fighting together? – as they began another attack. To his ever-growing surprise, he saw the woman who'd been helping Ruby suddenly begin to control and shift the blown-apart remains of the asphalt they were just standing on, forming a large makeshift obelisk and sending it at the Bullhead.

 _'Telekinesis?'_ , Mantis asked himself, although it didn't seem as freely-controlled or versatile. He watched from the air as the fiery-eyed woman blasted it apart and then seeing the projectile re-form and continue on to the Bullhead, grazing past it like a serpent and then dividing into three separate snake-like constructs of stone, slithering about in the air and ready to attack once again at Glynda's next command. Seeing the dire situation, the fiery-eyed woman brought her arms together and formed a ring of strange orange symbols around her. Out of nowhere, an enormous shockwave of flame erupted from her, incinerating the asphalt constructs in mid-air. Not wanting to be left undone and seeing the Bullhead begin to turn away to leave, Ruby made the first move she had in a while and converted her scythe into a rifle, much to Mantis' surprise – _'Just what else can these people do?'_ – and opened fire on the retreating vehicle. In respone, the fiery-eyed woman merely raised her palm and used it to deflect the shots, casually stopping the rounds with literally her bare hands. Neither side seemed to be making much headway on one another.

 _'Hmph… I've remained idle for too long… Time to_ really _give them a show!',_ Mantis deduced, and decided to use a move he hadn't utilized in a _long_ time. He hovered a little ways up into the air, higher than the Bullhead in terms of distance from the ground. Reaching both arms out in front of him and raising one hand over the other, Mantis began to focus his power on the water vapor in the air between his hands. Forcing himself to concentrate more on the physical matter than what he was used to, he strained his mind, finding a small pocket of vapor between his palms and began to compress them this way and that, focusing so deeply on the small pockets of air that he could almost feel the individual particles grinding by one another, picking up speed in his psychokinetic grasp, compressing and rubbing faster and faster... until he felt it; A small electric spark, glowing faintly.

Grinning sinisterly beneath his mask, Psycho Mantis sped up the process, compressing and bumping together and moving the vapor particles apart and repeating faster and faster until the spark began to grow, glowing dangerously as he moved his arms further and further apart to accommodate its growing size. In a quick amount of time, the spark grew into a large ball of unstable electricity, soon growing larger than Mantis himself and crackling hungrily in the air, almost seeming as though it wanted to be let loose to wreak havoc. Not content yet, Mantis added more of his power to the electric sphere, watching gleefully as it zapped at the air around it, glowing brighter and brighter and growing ever larger until it was finally nearly half as large as the Bullhead itself, twelve feet across in diameter and emitting an almost painfully-bright bluish-white glow.

Meanwhile, the woman in the Bullhead took no notice of what Mantis was doing, and performed a wide sweep with her arm. On the ground, Ruby and Glynda realized that the motion summoned five more dangerously-glowing areas on the area around them. Not taking any chances, Glynda grabbed Ruby in her telekinetic grasp using her riding crop and shoved her forwards while she herself performed a flip forwards, carrying both of them away from the range of the fiery beams that erupted from the glowing spots behind them. Ruby landed somewhat painfully on her side, and a bit dizzy from the ringing in her ears that came from the rather loud whisting sound from the explosive beams. As she got up, however, she noticed a strange glowing bluish-white light in the upper corners of her eyes. Curiously looking upwards, Ruby widened her eyes upon seeing the floating child who'd apparently been helping them was now controlling and growing an enormous ball of crackling electricity, his arms outstretched at either side of himself as he telekinetically stabilized and continued growing the static sphere.

"Wow! Hey, I dunno know what you're doing, buddy, but keep doing it!", Ruby cheered him on, having a feeling that whatever he was about to do would be spectacular. The sound of her shouting to Mantis attracted both Glynda's and the fiery-eyed woman's attention, prompting both of them to turn their gazes to Psycho Mantis. For the first time since they'd met, Mantis saw the woman's fiery eyes widen, if only a little, but enough for Mantis to see that she too was shocked at seeing the huge ball of lightning he was manipulating. Grinning savagely under his mask, Mantis decided it was time to unleash his power.

"Here we go! Ladies and little girl ("Hey!", Ruby shouted indignantly), it's the show you've all been waiting for! Give it up for… _Psycho Mantis_! HAHAHAHAHAAA!", Mantis roared joyfully, raising his voice far louder than normal. Bringing both arms in front of him, Mantis reared back and shot his arms forwards in a pushing motion, utilizing his psychokinesis to carefully aim and, with far more excitement than he felt in a long time, launched the enormous lightning ball directly at the Bullhead. The fiery-eyed woman stumbled back as the Bullhead finally turned around and shut its doors, but right before it could even start to fly off, Mantis' crackling ball of lightning thundered straight into it and exploded with tremendous force.

 ***BRRZZRZZRT-BRRZZZZRRRT!***

Flashes of lightning and the roars of thunder flashed through the sky from where it struck the Bullhead, forcing Ruby and Glynda to cover their eyes with a hand to avoid being blinded by the rapid flashes of white lightning rippling across the air, sparks flying from the explosion and falling like rain to the street and rooftops below. With a creaking roar, the Bullhead was sent a dozen yards in the air, and yet still tried to take off. Within seconds, however, every last electric component of the vehicle was overloaded and damaged beyond recovery, causing the Bullhead to finally tilt over and fall straight to the ground like a flaming asteroid. As soon as it hit the ground, it exploded onto the street in a powerful blast of orange light, sending fiery pieces of metal soaring onto the rooftops and crashing into walls, as well as a huge wave of smoke barreling towards Glynda and Ruby.

Covering their noses and mouths, Ruby and Glynda felt the smoke and ash barrel past them, their capes fluttering and whipping about in the wind. All the while, both could faintly hear the sound of a boy's somewhat muffled cruel laughter somewhere in the air above them, penetrating through the dense ash and the sound of fire crackling from the burning wreck of the Bullhead. Soon, the ash cloud settled, and allowed Glynda and Ruby to breathe easily again as they slowly approached the burning wreck. Police sirens could already be heard as people awoke from their slumber in nearby buildings, peering through windows and stepping out from their doors to stare in awe at the sight of the broken Bullhead lying in a heap of fire and its own destroyed and burning parts of itself. Glynda used her riding crop after stopping a dozen feet away to slowly piece apart the destroyed Bullhead, searching for survivors to apprehend. However, she found none, and deduced that they either escaped or perished.

Considering the lack of charred bodies, however, the latter seemed unlikely. Turning around with a sigh, the first thing she saw was Ruby's beaming and hyped-up face, smiling from ear to ear with stars in her eyes.

"Y-You… Y-You're a huntress!", Ruby nearly screamed, her heart racing after all that happened. She felt like exploding just like the Bullhead had moments earlier. Fighting off the thugs, meeting the floating telekinetic boy, fighting Roman, seeing an actual huntress in combat, watching a Bullhead go down so awesomely… it was just far too much! "Can I have your autograph!? Please? Oh! And that psychic kid, too! Pretty please!? It would be so awesome if-!", Ruby turned around to look up, only to find that the floating child that had helped them had vanished. The echoing sound of his laughter slightly muffled by his chilling gas mask still reverbrating in her mind was the only trace he'd been there. That, and the destroyed Bullhead blocking an entire street with its rapidly-burning metal scraps and thick cloud of ash steadily rising into the moonlight sky. Feeling her smile turn into a sad frown that he had apparently decided to just leave them, Ruby let her arms drop to her sides dejectedly.

"Aww... Wh-Where'd he go…? He was just here! Was he late for dinner or something? Did he-?", Her tirade of questions was interruped by a stern hand clamping on her shoulder. Shutting her mouth with a startled "Eep!", Ruby tensed and slowly looked over her shoulder to see Glynda staring coldly and sternly at her, like a mother catching her child attempting to steal extra snacks.

"We will worry about that child later. For now, young lady, _you_ are coming with me", Glynda stated, leaving no room for argument.

* * *

Mantis stumbled into an alleyway, having teleported there after deciding he'd hung around long enough. With a painful groan, he leaned against a wall to keep from falling over, grasping his forehead with both hands to attempt to soothe the powerful migraine pounding within his skull.

 _'Damn… it's been a long time since I've used that much power… that much concentration in such a powerful attack…'_ , He berated himself, taking in quick, shallow breaths and hunching over slightly, causing his red hair to fall forwards over his forehead. It wasn't true electrokinesis, he just used his psychic power to telekinetically shift and compress the air to form a ball of electricity, much like someone tossing a lit match on a puddle of oil to start a fire. However, not only had it been quite a long time since he used electricity like that, he'd also never created and utilized an electric ball that enormous and unstable, and it put quite a toll on his mind to have used so much concentration and power to properly control and attack with it.

However, he knew that whoever that cane-wielding man and fiery-eyed woman were, they were still alive. It wasn't just a guess, either. While he could no longer sense their presence, bits and traces of it still lingered and left a trail that a psychic such as himself could easily track, meaning that they had managed to get away from the burning wreck. Not that he was going to bother chasing them, of course. He'd used up too much power than he probably should have, and as much as he hated it, would have to limit how much of his power he exerted for a while until he recovered. It appeared that Mantis had already made several powerful enemies within the first hour of getting here. Fortunately, though, he might also have procured some allies, if his apparently teaming up with the girl and purple-caped woman was anything to go by. Still, there was a small chance that some criminal or other, possibly even the ones he'd just battled, would attempt to ally with him to benefit from his power. In any case, he'd lay low for a while until he decided on what to do, as well as until his newfound overexertion-induced migraine subsided.

Wearily lifting his head up, Mantis wasn't even that surprised at seeing the broken, shattered moon floating in the dark night sky, a cool and calm light flittering onto the world below it. He began summarizing all that had transpired so far, including: Meeing The Sorrow, being sent to another world, witnessing a teenage girl fight off armed thugs with an oversized farming tool, participating in a destructive battle between what appeared to be two of the world's factions, destroying a military-grade air vehicle and paying with a headache, and, last but not least, being transformed into his child self upon arriving. Mantis cursed under his breath.

"Damn it… This is going to be a _long_ night."

* * *

 **A/N**

 **And that's it for this first chapter! I hope I get Mantis' character right; I was originally going to do Monsoon, but couldn't quite figure out how he'd get to Remnant, and he just sort of seemed to be Raiden's counterpart to Psycho Mantis anyway. I knew I didn't want to use a hero like Raiden, but I also wasn't all that interested in Big Boss/Venom Snake. I wanted someone a bit darker, someone less heroically-and-morally-inclined than Snake or Raiden, which is saying something, intermingled with the conflict of Teams RWBY and JNPR against the White Fang and the villains controlling it. And who better for that than our favorite fourth wall-breaking psychic, Psycho Mantis? How will he fare in his much younger body? Which side will he take? What havoc will he wreak? How-**

"Will you shut up, already!? It's hard enough wandering this strange city with you talking your jaw off behind that screen in the sky! Oh, and you too! I can see you there, too, watching this whole thing! If it's not too much to ask, I'd like some privacy from both of you while I search for a place to stay the night!"

 **Sheesh, someone's grouchy... Well, on that note, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!**


	2. Aftermaths and Beginnings

**Chapter 2: Aftermaths and Beginnings**

 **And here we are with another chapter! Now, I've seen the reviews so far, and I'd like to take the time to clarify a few things. Namely, Psycho Mantis' powers on Remnant.**

 **In this story, Mantis has been reverted back to his child self's form from MGSV when he was sent to Remnant. However, he still retains his memories and personality from MGS and MGS4 as well as how to use and manage his power. Now, as we've seen in The Phantom Pain, Mantis as a child was highly receptive to the wills and emotions of others, such as Volgin (the Man on Fire) and Skull Face despite the fact that his gas mask is supposed to block those sorts of things. Case in point during MGS, when he as an adult was unaffected by people like Solid Snake with clearly high willpower and determination like Skull Face and Venom Snake. So, in these circumstances, Mantis has a mix of these attributes: Since he is physically a child again, his mind is more receptive to the emotions and feelings of others like in MGSV, but since he still has his adult mind he can safely sense and determine who and where they are coming from without being overwhelmed and taken over, as well as still being able to read people's minds and manipulate them.**

 **Also, since he's not from Remnant, Mantis will not be getting or unlocking his own Aura, and he will ESPECIALLY not be getting a Semblance! His psychokinesis is pretty well established in both MGSV and MGS/MGS4 to be powerful and efficient enough as it is. Speaking of which, as some of you may have noticed, his psychic powers are not quite as strong as they were in TPP yet also clearly stronger than in MGS. Well, there's actually a good reason for that, both in and out of canon, which I will be exploring in future chapters. For now, though, enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Metal Gear or RWBY, because if I did then Metal Gear Survive either would've been way better or just never have existed at all and Pyrrha would've handed Team CRDL's asses to them way harder. They belong to Konami and Rooster Teeth respectively.**

* * *

"I hope you realize your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady," Ms. Goodwitch stated as she paced in the dark room. Near her, Ruby sat downtrodden at the desk, listening somberly to the teacher's words. "You put yourself _and_ others in great danger." She continued with a stern tone. However, Ruby seemed to have a few words of her own.

"They started it! A-And that masked guy handled himself just fine!" She pointed out, though her voice lacked any real confidence. Glynda ignored it, however. She knew the girl obviously had well-meaning intentions, and despite her recklessness, she also proved quite courageous in standing up to and combating several armed thugs and a wanted criminal on behalf of the frightened Dust shop owner. However, well-meaning as she may have been, she still could have gotten that old man and any onlookers caught in the deadly crossfire, including that strange boy that had somehow gotten mixed up in all this.

That strange telekinetic boy… She'd been wanting to find out more and locate that child ever since she saw him take down the Bullhead. Not only had he proven himself just as strong, if not even more adept in combat than young Ruby, but he had also shown rather worrisome behavior. For one, his clothes: a gas mask and straitjacket. What on Remnant was a child doing wearing such wear, not to mention alone on the street? Ruby at the very least had a reason for being out so late: Looking at various weapons magazines and Dust supplies. That… floating boy, on the other hand, seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The fact that he had then disappeared right after he took down the Bullhead led them to a startling conclusion: The boy had been involuntarily committed to an institution and used his Semblance to escape and was now at large, using a gas mask to attempt to hide his identity. Of course, there were several holes in this conclusion, namely that he appeared fully capable of fighting off clearly skilled opponents and seemed to have no health issues whatsoever at a glance, mentally or physically. That, and there had been no report of an escaped child thus far, and certainly not one as dangerous as this boy clearly was. Unfortunately, Glynda hadn't had time to research it nor ask young Ruby Rose about it yet, and was now forced to wait until her superior arrived to handle matters.

"If it were up to me…" Glynda began, pushing that thought away for later and keeping her eyes on the tablet screen in her hands, "You'd be sent home with a pat on the back…", Ruby's face filled with hope, "… and a slap on the wrist." She finished, staring coldly at the girl before rapidly whipping her riding crop down to the desk, intentionally missing the young girl yet still driving her point home considering Ruby's flinch. With a sigh, Glynda continued in a disapproving yet resigned tone.

"But… there is someone who would like to meet you."

With that, a tall man with aging silver hair and dressed in a suit and scarf of varying shades of green entered the room carrying a glass of milk and a platter of cookies. As soon as his bespectacled eyes saw young Ruby looking at him curiously, the first thing he noticed… those eyes.

"Ruby Rose… you…" He began, staring intently at her, "… have silver eyes."

At this, Ruby looked at him a bit uncomfortably, shifting her gaze away somewhat. ' _Um… ooookaaaayyy…'_

"So…" The silver-haired man began again, "Where did you learn to do _this_?" He asked, gesturing to the screen Goodwitch was holding. It was displaying footage of Ruby taking on the goons from earlier, dispatching them with ease.

"S-Signal Academy." Ruby answered nervously. What did this man want from her? The man's eyebrows lifted up, "They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" He asked, his tone and choice of words made it seem as though he personally knew someone who worked there.

"Well… one teacher in particular." Ruby clarified, fondly remembering their training together.

"… I see." The man stated. Saying nothing else, he pushed the platter of cookies into the table. Ruby only took a few seconds to reach forwards and grab a cookie. Then another, and another, the treats seemingly vanishing into her mouth.

"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before; A dusty old crow." The man said, his tone seeming to imply something else.

"Mmhm! Thash muh unkul!" Ruby tried to say, her voice muffled by the several dozen cookies crammed past her lips. She quickly downed the treats and wiped her mouth, "Sorry! That's my uncle Qrow!" She said again excitedly, "He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing…"

The man listened to Ruby with a surprising amount of intent, only stopping to sip some of his coffee. Glynda watched off in a corner, crossing her arms in disapproval but knowing enough to put her trust in the man sitting across from Ruby.

"And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?" He inquired at one point. "Well…" Ruby began, her eyes taking on a surprisingly serious yet still childish gleam, "I want. To be. A huntress." She stated simply, saying all she needed to. The man, however, seemed to want to dig deeper.

"You want to slay monsters?"

"Yeah! I only have two years of training left at Signal… and then, I'm going to apply at Beacon! See, my sister's starting there this year and _she's_ trying to become a huntress… and I'm trying to become a huntress cuz I wanna help people! My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, 'Ah, well, I might as well make a career out of it!'" She explained. In the back of her mind, even she knew how basic it sounded, but it had been more than enough for her to train and study her butt off to become as skilled as she was now, to get into Beacon and do what she could for the world. There was no way she could dare to think about backing out.

"Well, I mean, the police are alright," Ruby continued, not wanting to make any unwanted implications, "but huntsmen and huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really, GOSH, you know!?"

Glynda was not amused. Whatever concerns or oppositions she had to this one girl's views, however, were kept quiet. After a few seconds of a healthy pause, the silver-haired man spoke again.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked calmly. There wasn't an ounce of arrogance nor assertiveness in his tone; Just a simple question, nothing more. Fortunately, Ruby seemed to pick up on it.

"You're Professor Ozpin." Ruby answered simply and proudly, "You're the Headmaster of Beacon."

"Hmph… hello, then."

"Nice to meet you!" Ruby greeted back happily. She didn't expect for his next question, however.

"Do you want to come to my school?" Ozpin asked graciously. While not expecting it, Ruby definitely had an answer to it. Leaning forwards and feeling excitement bubbling up within her, she opened her mouth.

"More than anything…!" She whispered quietly yet full of excitement and aspiration. Ozpin looked to Glynda. She said nothing and averted her gaze, clearly not happy with what she knew Ozpin had planned. Like before, however, she didn't object to it. Not verbally, anyway.

"Well, okay…" Ozpin said with a smile. Ruby felt her eyes widen excitedly. Ozpin stood up and reached out a hand to her. "Ruby Rose, I personally welcome you to Beacon Academy."

The next thing anyone knew, Ruby turned into a red blur and practically leaped on top of the desk, snatching Ozpin's hand and shaking it like a piggy bank.

"OHTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOOOUUUU!" Ruby shrieked, smiling so widely it threatened to tear her face in two. Both Glynda and Ozpin visibly winced at the intense volume of Ruby's voice, though if she noticed she didn't care.

' _I JUST GOT ACCEPTED INTO BEACON BY PROFESSOR OZPIN HIMSELF! Oh my Oum, oh my Oum, OH MY OUM! Yang's gonna flip when she hears about this!'_ Were the only thoughts in Ruby's mind, followed quickly by mental images of her standing in heroic poses over defeated corpses of giant Grimm while men, women and children and thanked her profusely while she insisted it was merely her duty.

"Ahem…" Ozpin cleared his throat, getting Ruby's attention and recovering from her outburst surprisingly well, "I believe, in that case, that there is only one more issue left to discuss." He continued. Ruby tilted her head in confusion. If she'd just been selected to attend Beacon by the Headmaster himself and the thugs she'd defeated were behind bars (Goodwitch had seen to that herself), what else was there for her to talk with them about?

Seeing the confusion and slight nervousness on the young girl's face, Ozpin attempted to soothe any fears, "Don't worry, it's nothing that could get you into trouble. We just wanted to ask what you know about…" He gestured for Glynda to come forward with the screen again, "… _this_ individual here."

Ruby looked to Glynda's screen and widened her eyes. On the screen was a still image of that red-haired boy, wearing a black unfastened straitjacket, no shoes and, of course, a dark gas mask with lifeless, orange-tinted lenses that seemed to stare at everything and nothing all at once. In the image, he was hovering threateningly in the air over Roman Torchwick's downed figure after blowing him off his feet with his own flare, the iron ladder floating menacingly behind him under the power he exerted. Ruby shuddered slightly; She'd hate to be on the receiving end of his fury after seeing what he was capable of.

"Um… 'what do I know'?" Ruby asked. Ozpin nodded, "Correct. We are to understand that this individual aided you and Ms. Glynda Goodwitch here in combating the criminals in that Bullhead and bringing it down. However, there is little to no information regarding this young man, and we were wondering if you had anything to say regarding him."

Ruby stopped to think. What did she know about him?

"Well, for one thing, he's definitely one of the strongest non-huntsman I've ever seen! He could make a ladder fly off from its hinges and use it to deflect a fireball like a bat hitting a baseball without even touching it! After seeing that… I would guess that his Semblance is psychokinesis. Y'know, the power to move stuff with your mind?"

Ozpin nodded in understanding. It would certainly explain his being able to stop a flare discharge mid-flight and tear a solid iron ladder straight from his hingers without ever using his physical body.

"Psychokinesis… what do you have to say, Glynda? You were witness to the majority of the event, yes?" He asked. She nodded, taking a step forwards. "I have to agree with young Ruby. He displayed incredible power seemingly using only his mind alone, such as forcefully altering the course of Roman's Dust discharge before it could hit Ruby, as well as possessing enough skill to perfectly counter and deflect an incoming incendiary attack using the earlier-mentioned ladder. In fact…" Glynda seemed a bit hesitant, "I would estimate his telekinetic capability to be even beyond mine."

Ozpin raised both eyebrows in intrigue. Glynda was known throughout Beacon for her telekinetic Semblance that, when channeled through her riding crop, could effortlessly re-build destroyed school property by telekinetically reattaching the many broken pieces so seamlessly that it would be as if no damage had ever even occurred. For her to admit that a child was superior to her in that regard…

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, whoever trained him must've done a _really_ good job! From what I saw, he could move around the super-tiny air particles to make _huuuge_ balls of lightning and wipe out a big area if he wanted to!" She added, stretching her arms out to either side to emphasize how large his attack had been, "I've _never_ seen anything like that before! And… um, I think he could teleport…"

The entire time, Ozpin had been listening to both accounts very intently, soaking up all the information he could and using a notepad to store it just in case. So far, they'd gathered that this child was definitely an experienced fighter with some degree of training, although by whom was completely unknown. This boy was also clearly knowledgeable of his own power, able to focus his psychokinesis to the point of manipulating even the weather and air itself to shoot down ships as large as a Bullhead, or even larger, if he made a serious attempt to. He also appeared to be quite reserved, having disappeared right after the air vehicle was taken down before authorites could question him and apparently hadn't engaged in back-and-forth conversation with neither Ruby nor Glynda during the battle. His strange attire only furthered the mystery, and it all pointed to this powerful child being, in some way or other, completely dependent on himself and alone in the streets of Vale.

If that were true, it would be very bad news. Not because he was merely a lone child left to fend for himself, because it was quite clear he knew how to handle himself against skillful opponents. No, the danger lied in the fact that he was clearly powerful enough to fatally injure any civillian, criminal, officer or any non-hunstmen who attempted to confront and/or abduct him. With all that in mind, there was just one thing left to ask.

"Well… did he give a name for himself?"

Both Ruby and Glynda put their hands to their chins, thinking. After several moments, Glynda shook her head, "I don't believe so. I was too preoccupied with apprehending the suspects during the confrontation with Torchwick in the Bullhead to have paid attention to anything else."

Hmm… clearly, whoever this was wanted to lay low. Just as Ozpin was about to move on from the question, Ruby abruptly exclaimed, "Oh, wait! I think I remember! He did give a name! … I think…"

Ozpin leaned forwards intently, "Are you sure? What and when did he say it?"

At this, Ruby averted her gaze slightly, "Well… it was during the last few moments we saw him before he left, but… right when he finished that _super_ cool lightning bomb attack and threw it at the Bullhead, he called himself… uh… oh yeah, Psycho Mantis! Yeah!" She finished. "Hmm… that's a weird name." She added as an afterthought.

It certainly was, Ozpin agreed. He didn't seem to have any faunus traits, and he seemed to be fully functional in terms of mental and physical health. It almost sounded like a codename. He brushed that thought from his mind, however; No child would be involved in any military, regardless of their combat prowess. Ozpin looked at the photo once again. To his surprise, when he looked carefully, the drooping sleeves of the jacket combined with the position of his raised arms almost did make him look like an actual praying mantis, ready to strike. Perhaps he was trying to imitate a superhero of some sort?

"Psycho Mantis… In any case, thank you, Ruby. We will be looking more into this, and will need all the information we can find in order to track this boy down." Ozpin thanked her. Ruby frowned nervously.

"Um… if you don't mind me asking… what are you going to do when you find him?" Ruby asked. She hadn't even gotten to know the boy at all, but she felt a twinge of sympathy and gratitude to him for helping them in combat. If she had gotten into trouble for merely stepping in against Torchwick's goons, how much trouble would that boy get into for downing an airship in a populated area? Granted, no one had gotten hurt (except hopefully the people onboard), but still…

"Don't worry, Ruby. I can assure you this boy won't be facing punishment for his actions tonight." Ozpin assured her, "We just want to make sure he isn't in danger, as there is reason to believe he is all on his own out there. If anything, we would like to potentially recruit him to Beacon to study alongside you, if you wish.

Once again, Ruby felt giddy with excitement. One day, she could find herself studying with this boy and finding out about his cool powers!

' _Well, he's a bit creepy-looking and kinda short, but still! It'd be so cool!'_ She exclaimed to herself, conjuring mental images of seeing the boy juggle large Grimm in the air or attach molten scraps of metal to each other to magically POOF! overly complicated weapons into existence using his psychokinesis. _'Wherever he is, he's gotta be kicking butt!'_

* * *

Mantis trudged through the dark, damp alleyways, keeping a hand to his forehead at all times. As much as he hated it, he decided that the most efficient way for him to recover from using so much energy was to not use his power unless necessary. Which, unfortunately, meant he was forced to use that vile and pathetic motion known to humans as walking. Since he spent so much time simply floating and hovering around using his power, his legs had slowly gotten weaker over time from disuse, something that was now coming back around to bite him in the ass. It was so bad that he even limped every ten steps or so, the feeling of the cold ground on the soles of his bare feet alien and incredibly uncomfortable.

' _How humiliating…'_ He groaned inwardly, the dull pain in his mind only now beginning to waver, although at a rate so slow he could barely even tell. Not that he was going to try to keep tabs on how it was going, he figured his powers would recover when they recovered. He stepped out onto the sidewalk, simply deciding to randomly turn left. He soon attracted stares from other citygoers, not that he could blame them; To onlookers, he was a lone child wearing an unfastened straitjacket, a creepy gas mask, and was limping down the street while clutching his head like some homeless drunk. If it weren't for the fact that it would hamper the recovery of his powers, he'd either erase their memories or just turn them into mindless zombies. Just when he thought it couldn't get worse…

*Grumble, rumble!*

'… _You have_ got _to be kidding me!'_ He cursed internally, realizing he was hungry. Since he had no money, or even any idea on how currency functioned in this world, he had no way to pay for food.

Not that he was actually planning on honestly paying for his food right now anyways.

Fortunately, it appeared that the written language here was the same as Earth's. Feeling himself get adjusted to walking on his physical legs, Mantis felt his limp gradually disappear and allowing him to look around without worrying about suddenly toppling over. Mantis was already able to see numerous shop signs, though none of them seemed like they sold food. As far as he could see, there were just clothing stores, thrift shops, and stores selling… "Dust"?

' _Oh, please don't tell me that these humans can somehow make a living off selling each other loose dirt.'_ Mantis thought dryly, feeling his already-low respect for this world plummet. Sighing, he continued on his way, keeping his eyes open for either a way to obtain free food and/or some form of money to purchase said food just in case.

*CRASH!*

"Hey! Get outta here, damn dogs!" An angry voice called from within an alley right next to him, followed shortly by angry snarls and yips by the aforementioned dogs, who, seconds later, barreled straight out of the alley and onto the street. In his smaller state, Mantis was nearly run over by the stampede of rottweilers, collers and a great dane, flailing his arms wildly about to keep from falling over and potentially causing more damage to his head.

"Gah!" Mantis nearly got downed by a great dane who brushed past him, "Watch it, shitstains!" He hissed at the fleeing canines, shaking his sleeved fist at them as they went. He knew it was immature, and only confirmed to a casual observer that he was just a child, but between having to stop using his powers for now and being reverted back into his child self's body, he was pretty upset. He took a step in the direction he'd been originally going in but was stopped when the owner of voice that yelled at the dogs emerged from the alleyway.

"Hey, kid, you okay?" The voice asked, its tone indicating a middle-aged man. Mantis turned around to see said middlep-aged man. He was wearing a white shirt under a black-and-burgundy top over it and light grey pants. He had a rather muscular frame, matched with cleanly cut sideburns. Like most others, he visibly flinched when he noticed Mantis' unusual attire. Much to his own disgust, Mantis decided it would be best if he played the "scared-and-alone-helpless-child" act again.

"U-Um… y-yeah… th-thank you." He stuttered, takinga few pointers out of Decoy Octopus' book and feeling his own inner voice screaming at him for daring to stoop so low. It wasn't like he had much other options, however. The man nodded, still wary of his strange appearance.

"Good… uh, what's with the getup…? Do you know where your parents are?" He inquired, glancing around the area. Mantis' mind raced, searching for a possible answer.

"Er… I'm in disguise! Y-Yes! Th-this is an outfit my friends dared me to wear!" He tried to improvise, waving his hands in the air in front of him and making other child-like motions in his best attempt to come off as a regular kid dressed in a straitjacket and gas mask. The man quirked a brow at his answer.

"… Your friends dared you to wear that?" He asked unamusingly. Mantis sighed, "Do you think I would wear this of my own accord?" He pointed out. The man opened his mouth to retort, but quickly found Mantis' point.

"Eh, true that, kid." He conceded with a small smile, prompting Mantis to nod and turn to walk away. Before he could, though, the man spoke again. "Uh, hey! If you don't mind my asking, er, where are your folks? Are they… letting you wander around this time of night?" He asked softly, obviously concerned at the prospect of a young child wandering the city alone at night.

'… _Dammit…'_ Mantis cursed in his mind, not having an answer ready for that particular question. Keeping up the façade, he averted his gaze every now and then, "Um… I don't really have parents… they've gone away." He answered in his best scared-child's voice. _'Well, it's not a total lie…'_ He smirked internally. The man's eyes widened in concern.

"Oh… what happened…?" He inquired in a gentler voice, which Mantis thought impossible. At the same time, he was starting to aggravated from the questions. "Um… they just left one day, and… didn't come back." He supplied, trying his best to actually sound sad.

"… I'm sorry to hear that…" The man replied in an honest voice, lowering his head apologetically. That really grinded Mantis' gears; How dare he pity him!? Not only were humans greedy and lustful, but they also just _loved_ to shower their useless compassionate feelings on those who just befallen tragedy and could use actual help rather than mocking shows of sorrow and sympathy! Not that Mantis needed someone to defend him, of course, but it was insulting beyond belief! Taking in several deep breaths to calm himself, Mantis diverted his mind to how to further answer the man's questions without drawing suspicion.

Luckily, the man seemed to interpret his anger-filled breaths as hollow ones of sadness and loss. "So, then… do you have a place to stay, kid?"

That threw Mantis for a loop. He briefly accessed his still-recovering power reserves, just enough to be able to sense a person's outer emotions and feelings. To his surprise, there wasn't any sign this man was trying to abduct or otherwise plan on luring him into a trap. Seeing where this was going, he shook his head.

"N-No, mister. I thought I'd try to find some money one the sidewalk for food, b-but… I can't find any…" He answered somewhat truthfully. He truly didn't have a place to sleep comfortably, and had also failed to procure any currency to purchase anything in this world. Instead of yet another question, the man took a slight step forwards and reached a hand out towards Mantis, much to his confusion.

"My name's Tukson. I know we've only just met, but… would you like to stay with me for the time being?" He offered. Seeing Mantis' startled body language, he added, "Don't worry, I promise I'm not one of those sick scumbags who target children."

Sensing no ill intention – yet – Mantis reached a hand out and grabbed it as best he could with his hands in the tight sleeves of the jacket, shaking Tukson's hand graciously. Seeing that the supposed child had a least some trust in him, Tukson offered "Do you want me to phone the police or-?"

"N-NO!" Mantis yelled, surprising himself and Tukson with the volume of his voice. The last thing he wanted was to get involved with the authorities. Mantis was no fool, he knew there was a likely chance that he would get punished by the law for taking down such a large airship in a populated area. After facing off against two clearly combat-skilled criminals, he did not want to risk standing out any more than he already was.

"… Uh… are you sure? I live right—" Tukson was interrupted by Mantis waving his arms in a "no" fashion. "Yes, I am sure! Y-You see, m-my parents were… involved with some _very_ bad people with _lots_ of connections… I know I said my friends dared me to wear this stuff, but it's also to make sure they don't recognize me… If they find out where I am…!"

Tukson took a few moments to take it in. To Mantis' surprise, he seemed to accept it, shrugging his shoulders as if he understood. "Ah. Well, if that's the case…"

He walked around Mantis and up to the door to the building next to the alley he emerged out. Taking out a key ring, selecting one of the keys and using it to unlock the door. He opened the door, a bell chiming from above the frame.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade; Home to every book under the sun." He proudly stated with a calm smile, and Mantis finally noticed the large sign declaring the building to be a bookstore owned by the man. Still sensing no suspicious signals from the man and realizing he was faced with little options, Psycho Mantis chose to accept the man's hospitality. "Thank you…" He uttered hesitantly, not quite used to people offering him genuine help.

Walking through the open door and into the warm shop, he immediately glanced around. Just like the sign said, there were many books housed on shelves, categorized by the specific type of book and shelved accordingly. At the back of the room was a desk with a call bell, cash register, several stacks of – what else? – books, and a few binders. Behind that was a set of doors that seemed to lead into a hallway that turned right, though Mantis couldn't quite tell due to the dark windows.

Taking in the sight of so much literature and the warm atmosphere compared to the cold night air outside, Psycho Mantis almost didn't hear Tukson close the door behind him. Walking past him to the desk and opening the doors that led to the back, Tukson gestured for Mantis to follow him, stepping inside and walking through first to try to make sure Mantis knew he wasn't about to try anything. Mantis already sensed he had no ill will yet, but he decided to let him go ahead and do it anyway. Entering the back door and following Tukson, he turned right to walk through a short corridor. Straight ahead was a room that seemed to be Tukson's office, as there was another desk with filing cabinets near it as well as several important-looking documents and papers strewn about. The corridor also turned left just before that, and that was where Tukson was leading Psycho Mantis. Upon rounding the corner, there was a staircase leading to an upper story.

"Just head up and head through the first door to your right; That's the room you'll be staying in for now." Tukson supplied simply and helpfully at the base of the stairs. Mantis passed him and did as he instructed. When he reached the top, the walls turned from dark grey to a light lavender, and there was another corridor that led left and right. Following Tukson's suggestion, Mantis turned right and found a simple plain door. To his dismay, it was of a lighter lavender and… had children's stickers on it?

' _Has this man been taking in other children from the street?'_

Brushing that thought aside, Mantis grabbed the doorknob as best he could with his hands in the jacket's long sleeves and opened the door. Upon entry, he immediately made out the room's size; about 12x10 squared feet and had dark purple walls. In the corner nearest him and to his left was a white dresser with a small mirror framed above it, and in the corner directly adjacent to it was a lamp whose lampshade had white and purple stripes. In the corner next to it was a medium-sized bed with purple sheets and blanket over the mattress and a fluffy light grey pillow, along with a small desk that had a few children's crayons and a small stack of what he presumed to be Tukson's own books on it. On the other side of the bed was a small window that could be opened and closed easily and quickly, allowing Mantis a method of escape if need be. Finally, in the corner just to Mantis' right was another bookshelf, although only about half as wide and tall as the ones in the bookstore area. Taking a peek, he quickly noticed that the majority of them were either Aesop's Fables-esque stories, children's fairy tales or comic books not too far off from the ones on Earth.

"Like it so far?" Tukson suddenly appeared from the doorway, leaning on the doorframe and might have startled him if it weren't for Mantis seeing his shadow approach from behind. Turning around to face him, Mantis put on his helpess child façade once more.

"So… are you sure you can let me stay here?" He asked with honest levels of surprise. He truly hadn't been expecting anyone to lend such aid to a child out on the street; He'd seen enough of humanity to know how vicious and cruel they could be. Just like how fruits and vegetables can go bad, though, he knew that some were definitely worse than others. Tukson took less than two seconds to respond to his question.

"I wouldn't have brought you in if I wasn't, kid." He said simply with a shrug. Mantis was already sick of being called a "kid", and it was only his gratitude to this man for letting him spend a few nights and the knowledge that he had to limit his power usage that stopped him from outright attacking and brainwashing him. Luckily, Tukson also seemed to tire of calling him "kid".

"Say… you got a name I can call you by? I can tell you don't quite enjoy that. And frankly… neither do I." He admitted, rubbing the back of his head. This time, Mantis wasn't quite sure how to answer that. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell him his codename, as that would undoubtedly sound off. At the same time, though… he did not at all want to remember his original name.

"… Call me Mantis." He finally decided to use part of his codename. Seeing Tukson raise a brow in confusion, he quickly added, "My family always taught me to pray for what we had. I would do it so much in public that my friends would say I looked like a praying mantis. They kept pointing out, I kept doing it, and after a while, they started to call me 'Mantis'."

Once again, not a total lie. During his actual youth with Liquid as teenagers, the blonde-haired then-child soldier had always teased Mantis about how whenever he lifted his arms into their signature pose during battle, his elongated jacket sleeves drooped off from where his fingers ended, thus making him resemble an actual praying mantis unfolding its forelegs when hunting prey.

The part where he mentioned family almost made him throw up a little in his mouth, however.

Tukson, however, seemed a bit confused at something. "Wait, so… you're not a faunus?"

"… Er… no…" Mantis replied carefully, not fully sure of how to respond.

' _What on Earth is a faunus!? I'll need to find **several** suitable history books or websites in order to come close to understanding this world!'_ Mantis shouted in his mind. Tukson stared at him for a few seconds before accepting his answer and shrugging his shoulders, "Eh, suppose it doesn't really matter." He stated, then checked his watch.

"Well… it's quite late now… you should probably get some rest." Tukson pointed out, showing his watch to Mantis. It was 10:45 PM, quite late indeed. And, if Mantis was being honest, rest was something he very much needed after that day's events. "Thank you, Mr. Tukson! Thanks so much!" He exclaimed in a happy tone, turning around to approach the bed and steadily got into it, lying down on the mattress and surprised by the strange comfort level the bed provided.

"Heh-heh… well, we'll talk more in the morning, Mantis. But, for now… sleep tight, kid. Good night." Tukson said softly, stepping out of the room and gently closing the door, shutting off the lights. Mantis waited about thirty seconds, listening to his footsteps head back downstairs. After he counted half a minute and could tell without using his power that Tukson was far enough away, he immediately got up and punched the wall as hard as he could.

"Grragh!" Mantis growled and grunted, partly from sheer frustration and partly because his knuckles and fingers hurt pretty bad hitting the solid wall, "Goddamned child acts! Damn it to Hell!" He swore, breathing heavily in an attempt to suppress his rage and disgust. It was one thing to be in the body of a child, but to force himself to physically behave like one made him feel like a worthless maggot crawling in muck. He, the greatest psychokinetic in the world, forced to whimper and stutter like a traumatized kid!

Swearing under his breath, he got out of bed and walked up the to the mirror on top of the dresser. He carefully reached behind himself and, carefully undoing the straps holding the straitjacket to his back, removed the jacket and slid it off his arms and letting it fall to the floor, leaving himself shirtless. To his utter discontent, he could plainly see the small, slim and weak physique of a young adolescent child in the mirror. No longer was the tall, fit and, most importantly, _adult_ body carrying his previously bald head, but was instead a young, weak and slightly emaciated kid's form with wavy red hair. He couldn't have been any more than 5'1" in this body.

"Why… why has this happened!?" He seethed, trembling with anger as he glared at his own reflection. The entire time, he had to force himself from trying to use his power to prevent own his abilities' recovery and made it clear that he was dangerous to both Tukson and anybody within range. To have to stoop so low as to pretend to be a lowly, innocent, weak, ignorant child…!

The mirror suddenly cracked from an invisible force, distorting Mantis' reflection. Panting heavily, he put a hand to his forehead, feeling the predicted pain spike through his skull.

' _Damn it… this thinking will get me nowhere. I can only rest for now… I must read up on this world's history and properties when morning arrives if I am to survive here._ ' He planned in his mind, walking slowly back to the bed and practically collapsing on top of it, only partially pulling the blankets over his body. Without taking too long at all, Mantis succumbed to his only-now apparent exhaustion and fell asleep.

* * *

Neo smirked as she beat yet another level on her Scroll. Sitting on an empty barrel in front of a warehouse, she'd been waiting patiently for Roman to return from his latest heist. Her smirk quickly fell, however, when she checked the time on her Scroll's clock and glanced around for any sign of him or their superior.

He'd been gone longer than he should've. She wanted so badly to just take a few looks around, but their superior had specifically instructed her not to leave her post until they returned. And as much as she may have wanted to, Neo knew better than to disobey.

Suddenly, a sewer lid near her rattled sightly, several knocks sounding out in a specific order and volume. Recognizing the code, Neo eagerly hopped off the barrel repeated the code herself, signaling the all clear. She then tossed the lid aside and jumped back to allow the people inside the step out. Instead of emerging like a normal person, a young woman wearing a red minidress with ashen black hair suddenly blasted up and out of the sewer entrance, firing small bursts of fire from her palms and feet. Landing on the ground and using one hand to soften to landing, Cinder stood straight up, almost seeming regal in her posture. Neo gulped nervously, seeing Cinder's eyes more flaming and angered than she would have liked.

"Move, Roman." Cinder ordered coldly with a displeased frown, walking calculatingly into the warehouse. Within a few moments, two smoking, burnt gloved hands raised from the sewers, shakily lifting up the owner of said hands, Roman Torchwick himself. To Neo's shock, he looked badly injured, with severe burns covering most of his body, soot and ash piled on his hair and several parts of his clothes and hat burned off to reveal the burned tissue and incinerated hair underneath, respectively. He struggled just to stay on his feet, coughing puffs of smoke every few seconds.

"*Cough!*, *Cough!* Y-Yeah, yeah…" He coughed weakly, stumbling forwards as a result of one of his knees' profuse bleeding and forced to use his cane to walk. Neo rushed forwards, helping Roman along into the warehouse after Cinder.

"You." Cinder ordered to several White Fang goons who weren't busy packaging Dust and/or weaposn into crates like their brethren, "Take Roman to be treated for his injuries."

Knowing better than to question how Roman got so badly burned and injured, the grunts stepped forwards and helped escort the crime boss to the makeshift infirmary in the warehouse. Neo followed after them, wanting to ensure that Roman was properly taken care of, but then she heard Cinder's quiet yet held-back voice.

"Neo. Resume your post immediately." She ordered scornfully. Neo stopped in her tracks and lowered her head somberly, watching the men escort Roman to the back before obeying Cinder's orders, trudging outside. Cinder stormed off deeper into the warehouse, not sparing any glances at the uniformed faunus working hard around her. She paced herself, breathing deeply to soothe her anger and unclenching her fists. She then proceeded through several ID locked doors and hallways, eventually finding her temporary quarters of the warehouse they were currently in. Inputting her ID and password into the digital lock next to the door, she waltzed in and immediately headed to the back of the room. She didn't even bother looking at the plush couches, dark red carpets, beautiful golden lamps and queen-size bed that were only accessible and used by her and her only. Cinder stopped in front of a painting on the back wall. It depicted a burning forest, with large plumes of smoke rising into the sky and blocking the bright sun, with animals fleeing the woods and some of them even ablaze themselves; Bears and moose thundered between the thick, fiery foliage, foxes and a pack of wolves attempted to dodge collapsing trees while birds attempted to soar between the cloud of ash above them and the inferno below them.

" Oh, Ancient Messenger, I wish to speak to the Empress." Cinder uttered, closing her eyes intently. Immediately after she finished, the painting slid upwards on the wall, revealing a small hatch just behind where it normally was. The hatch opened, and a small, red tentacle reached outwards. Cinde stepped back to give the entity room, and as she watched, more and more of the red tendrils slithered out. Eventually, a spherical, pitch-black body with bony armored plating emerged, floating in the air with its tendrils drooping underneath it.

"… Salem, I am here to report." Cinder stated simply, tensing herself. The dark coloration of the Grimm's round body shifted into a translucent red.

"Speak." A feminine yet dark and cold voice replied, raw power and malice emanating off its tone. Cinder readied her voice.

"We… We were unable to acquire the 500 kilograms of Dust we wished to obtain from the robbery… We were intercepted and forced back…" She answered, struggling to keep the fear from her voice. It would not do to show fear. A few seconds rolled by before the voice on the other end spoke again.

"What happened? Did Qrow return to Vale already?"

"No… a huntress and two young ones destroyed the Bullhead in which me and Roman attempted to use to retreat." She answered, bracing herself.

"… Who were these two youths?" The deadly voice asked simply. Cinder stopped herself from sighing in relief; She wasn't upset… yet.

"A young girl with silver eyes wielding a scythe… she may possibly be related to Branwen." Cinder reported, recalling the encounter she'd had with the scythe-wielding huntsman.

"And… what of the other?" The voice inquired, seemingly interested. Cinder's breath hitched in her throat, emotions rising up as she recalled the battle.

"… a young boy wearing a gas mask with the ability to manipulate and control the environment, seemingly using the power of his mind; Psychokinesis, in other words. He was the one who brought down our Bullhead almost singlehandedly, and with almost no visible effort on his part." She stated, struggling to hold in her shame. Cinder had always been confident in her power, both influentially-speaking and in terms of combat. She could have easily have taken that huntress and silver-eyed girl, she was sure, judging from the fact that the child didn't seem to have awakened her power yet.

That boy, on the other hand, was a different matter entirely. Cinder had met and fought with and alongside many skilled and lethal foes over her lifetime, each deadlier than the last. However, never in her years had she seen such a young child wield so much power so efficiently and skillfully. She gritted her teeth in anger, insulted by the fact that she, someone with decades of peak combat training and ruthless ambition and carefully-built skill, had been chased by a mere boy who just happened to have been born with such strength.

"… Who is this boy? Have you any clues as to his identity and location?" The voice pressed on, growing more interested and intrigued by the minute. Cinder took a few seconds to remember what she could.

"… 'Psycho Mantis', I believe, is what he referred to himself as during the skirmish. However, there wasn't any visible evidence that he is actually of faunus descent, and he appeared to have fled the scene as soon as our airship was destroyed.." She answered. "'Psycho Mantis'… I see. Cinder…" The voice on the other end began, instantly prompting Cinder to tense up, "Our plans do not change. We will be moving to Phase 2 at the planned time, but you must be extra cautious from here on. This child is clearly powerful and, even worse, is aware of the power he possesses; Do not let anything stand in our way. If you can locate him... do not attempt to engage him."

Cinder was taken aback. This so-called 'Psycho Mantis' was stronger than any other child his age on Remnant, possibly even as strong as Cinder herself! Now her master wanted to keep him alive?

"Why?" Cinder asked softly, "This boy could bring down legions of White Fang soldiers… why spare him while he is young and not yet at his peak?"

"It is precisely _because_ he is powerful that we must not kill him… yet." Her master persuaded, "If we can… persuade him to join our cause, to bear his strength down upon our enemies… it will make achieving victory that much easier. And if things go the way we plan to, you yourself will also achieve great power. Therefore, combining the Maiden's power with that of this young child's will make us nigh unstoppable."

Cinder opened her mouth to try to argue, but paused. It was a valid claim… if the boy were to join the White Fang and agree to combine his power with Cinder's goal to claim the Fall Maiden's power, victory would be all but assured. To simply confront and kill him would mean wasting all of that power Cinder witnessed during their confrontation.

"… Understood. I'll spread orders to gather our resources when planned, as well as help speed along Roman's recovery." Cinder affirmed.

"Excellent." Her master's voice said simply. With that, the tentacled Grimm's round body faded back to its original pitch-black color, slinking back to the hatch in the wall and closing it using one of its tendrils, the painting above it sliding back into the place and covering it up. Cinder took a deep breath, calming her nerves as she turned and gently sat down at one of the red-orange sofas in the room, propping her head on her elbow, thinking deeply. Planning.

* * *

The bright early sun invaded Mantis' window like an enemy army, and the sounds of cars honking in the streets and people chattering below finally awakened the sleeping psychic. With a groan, Psycho Mantis wearily blinked his eyes open and sat up in bed, stretching his arm out to one side. Upon glancing at his small, thin arm, he was dismayed to realize that he was indeed not dreaming or hallucinating.

He was still reverted back to his child form.

"Well, great… still a stupid child." He complained, getting out of bed and quickly losing his sleepiness; Working in a highly-disciplined special forces unit like FOXHOUND meant having the ability to quickly wake up at any given time to fight and kill without any disadvantageous exhaustion or sleepiness. Pausing in place, he put a hand to his forehead and focused.

' _Hmmm… Ah-ha! Yes! My powers have recovered!'_ He cheered internally, no longer feeling the migraine he had gotten yesterday from overexerting his powers. This, of course, must've meant that his psychokinesis was back in working order. Breathing a sigh of relief, he realized that all that was left was what to wear, since he understandably hesitant to put on his straitjacket again even if he was going to leave his arms free.

Still shirtless, he was about to awkwardly partially put on his straitjacket again when his eyes spied a small pile of clothes neatly folded on the dresser in the room. Cautiously walking up to it, he quickly noticed a note on the clothes.

"Dear Mantis,

Figured you might want to wear something a bit less suspicious and more comfortable.

Tukson."

Sighing in relief, Mantis looked through several tops before finally deciding on a plain hoodie with pockets at the bottom and colored black with horizontal dark grey stripes. Putting it on, he was a bit annoyed when it was clear that the hoodie was a bit big on him, as the collar easily touched the chin of his mask and the sleeves reached past his wrists to the point that only his fingertips were visible even after folding the wrists of the sleeves back. However, it was the closest thing in the pile Tukson left him to the trenchcoat he wore back with FOXHOUND, and it allowed him to stretch his fingers in the sleeves. And besides, looking in the mirror and seeing the combined appearance of the hoodie with his black gas mask, it did still make him look somewhat intimidating and off-putting without looking like an escaped patient.

No matter what, though, the gas mask stayed. Social norms be damned.

Finally, glancing to the floor, Mantis found a pair of dark red and black sandals that, unlike his hoodie, fit him perfectly. Testing the feel of his toes in the sandals, Mantis felt satisfied at his new outfit.

' _Well, then… let's see just where in Hell that old ghost sent me.'_

Mantis opened the door to the corridor outside his new room and, retracing his steps, walked downstairs past the office he'd seen yesterday.

"Hey, Mantis! Finally awake, huh?" Tukson called from his desk inside said office, having spotted Mantis coming downstairs and waved at him, "I see you got my gifts. Do they fit well?"

Mantis outstretched his arms, once again testing his hoodie. Although he couldn't get any more than his fingers to be visible from the sleeves, it still felt comfortable.

"Yes… thank you, kind sir." Mantis said graciously with a nod. Tukson stood up, setting aside whatever papers he was working on for later. "Of course, kid. Can't just let you walk around in something uncomfortable." He replied. Walking past Mantis to the main bookstore area, he gestured for him to follow, "Well, come on. If you're going to stay here, we're gonna have to lay down some ground rules."

Shrugging his shoulders, Mantis followed, ready to accept most of the standards Tukson might impose. He headed into the room where Tukson operated the bookstore to find the man in question standing near the desk preparing something. Sensing Mantis behind him, Tukson turned around and handed the psychic a cup of warm coffee.

"Want some?" He kindly offered, partially because he wanted to see Mantis finally remove his mask, having gotten the feeling that he slept wearing it. However, instead of removing his mask to drink, the coffee literally levitated from the cup and formed a floating puddle mid-air. Ignoring Tukson's stunned expression, Psycho Mantis telekinetically manipulated the airborne drink and slowly moved small portions of it through the air filter of his gas mask, sipping down the coffee with a delighted sigh.

' _Ah, yes… Good to have you back, my power…'_ Mantis thought to himself as he moved the rest of the coffee back into the cup, "Thank you, Tukson. I needed that." He thanked politely with a nod.

… What? He could be genuinely polite when he sees fit!

"… Uh… is that your Semblance? Telekinesis, or…?" Tukson asked awkwardly after that display. Mantis held himself back from sighing in disappointment, hoping he'd get a more shocked reaction. Looking back on the fight he partook in between the fiery-eyed woman, red-dressed girl and riding crop-wielding woman, it seemed as though these things were a regular occurrence in this world.

For some reason, though, when he thought that, he felt a bitter twinge in his heart. Knowing that he needed to behave his best here, he quickly shoved that thought down.

"Actually, psychokinesis." Mantis corrected, "I can move things with the power of my mind…"

'… _As well as enter your thoughts.'_

Tukson suddenly stumbled back, bumping into his desk and nearly spilling his own cup of coffee. Panting heavily, he looked all around him until his startled gaze fell on Mantis. Even though he couldn't see his face, Tukson could just feel his smirk under his mask.

"… You just talked in my head." Tukson said, narrowing his eyes slightly. It wasn't a question or a guess, it was a blunt statement. Mantis chuckled.

"My powers are quite versatile, as you may have guessed. With enough… influence, I can even control people to do as I please." He stated with pride. Tukson stood straight up again, fixing his shirt as it had wrinkled slightly.

"Well, if you can do all of that, how are you on the run from a bunch of folks after your head? Couldn't you just… I dunno… toss them over a cliff?" He suggested calmly, getting over his shock quicker than Mantis would've liked. The psychic took a few seconds to think up an answer.

"… Trust me, if they were that weak… I-I would've taken care of them already." Mantis intentionally stuttered, using a bit of his "helpless-and-innocent-child" persona. It worked; Tukson bought it, wincing sympathetically at his sad tone.

"I see… well, if that's the case, I really can't just let you out for those guys to find you." He stated, crossing his arms. Mantis raised his brows under his mask in surprise.

"You're… not going to ask who I'm running from?" He asked. Tukson just shrugged, "Let's just say I've… got my own experiences dealing with the wrong type of people. Experiences I'm not too comfortable sharing just yet. And if I'm not willing to tell ya… why should I be asking you to spill your guts?" He said quietly, clearly not having fond memories.

"Oh… well, thank you for that." Mantis replied honestly, relieved that he wasn't going to have to make up and entire story explaining what he was doing alone on the streets at night. Tukson merely waved it off.

"Don't mention it, it's just the polite thing to do. Now, anyways… I believe we need to discuss some grounds for you if you're going to stay here with me. This is my roof, which means you follow my rules." He stated, his tone getting a bit more serious without arrogance, which Mantis was glad for.

"Number 1: If you're going to live here, I'm gonna need you to work for me in the bookstore. Nothing big, just helping me shelve new books and cleaning and counting the money in the register and the like." Tukson explained calmly, leaning back against the desk.

"I have to assume I won't be paid in exchange for being allowed to stay here?" Mantis inquired. Truthfully, he didn't care whether nor not Tukson was willing to pay him, since he could always just hypnotize him into giving him any amount he wanted and disappear now that his powers had recovered.

"No, you will not." Tukson affirmed, though without any hints of sadism or cruelty like what Mantis expected, "I'll still be the one paying for our food and other necessities. Now, number 2: Curfew."

Mantis inwardly groaned.

"You only go out with my permission, understand? And if I do give you permission, you are to be back here by the set time I say. I close the shop at 9, but I don't mind you staying up however long you like so long as you keep it down at night and can do your tasks efficiently when I open at 7." He stated, his voice calm and humble. Mantis was saying and doing nothing but listening and nodding to prove he was listening, but inwardly, he was fuming.

' _Dammit! Not only do I have to behave like a child, I also have to take orders like one for no money!'_

Make no mistake, Mantis was very much grateful for being allowed a place to stay and without being charged. However, he was so accustomed to people paying him for his services – usually something to do with his psychic prowess – that the concept of working for free was totally alien to him. He knew it wouldn't be a big issue in the long run, however, since he was more than smart enough to not look a gift horse in the mouth. If this was the price he had to pay to have a roof over his head, fresh food and clean water, he'd be willing to bear it.

… For now.

"And number 3…" Tukson's voice suddenly grew slightly colder and threatening, "Don't ever use your Semblance on my customers."

Mantis tilted his head in confusion. He wasn't the least bit scared or intimidated, but rather curious about how serious Tukson seemed about him using his powers on anyone in the shop.

"The people that come into my store are the ones who gives us the ability to buy food, water, clothes and other necessities. For one, they come here to exchange my books for their money of their own free will. Frankly, I don't want to have to resort to hypnotizing innocent people into just giving us money. And trust me, I know how bad some people who walk in here can be, and I can't tell you enough how many times I hoped they'd get run over by a trucl. But, they still put money in the register, so I don't care how rude, condescending or arrogant anyone who comes to buy my books may be; I hear you broke someone's arm or made them brain dead, you'll have to deal with _me_ , kid. Understand?"

Aaaaand that was where Psycho Mantis was seriously considering drawing the line. Taking free orders from someone paying for his food and keeping a roof over his head? He could deal with it, he'd let Liquid give him orders during their time in FOXHOUND, after all. Leaving the bookstore with permission only and be back by a certain time? Mantis was never fond of the concept of getting fresh air or getting out in general anyway. But reigning in his power to stop from injuring any deserving assholes he may come across? Could he really do that?

'… _What a foolish question.'_ Mantis internally sighed, _'Of course I can do it. There's no other way.'_

With a reluctant nod, Psycho Mantis agreed, "Yes, sir, I understand."

Tukson gave him a small and only somewhat-noticeable smile, but Mantis could sense his satisfaction and moderate happiness, "Well, alright then. You're getting off lucky today; it's Sunday, the one day of the week we're closed, and that means you get to relax 'till tomorrow."

Mantis visibly brightened, "So… would you mind if I read some of your books?" He asked, wanting to know more about this world he was in. What better way to learn than by reading? Tukson shrugged.

"Sure, knock yourself out. Just don't damage them, and—"

He was interrupted by Mantis suddenly hovering up into the air and flying past him, touching down on the ground and telekinetically lifting several books into the air. Startled, Tukson whirled around to see that Mantis was already flipping to the chapter section of two rather large novels. He smirked, mistaking Mantis' desire to learn about the world for a passion towards reading.

"Well, I'll be in the back if you need me, Mantis. Remember to put those books back in their places when you're done with them!" He called over his shoulder as he left the room, headed back to his office. Before he totally disappeared into the corridor, however, he poked his head into the room.

"Oh, one last thing…" He said clearly, prompting Mantis to turn to him attentively, "Don't call me 'sir'; Makes me feel old." He added with a friendly smile before leaving. Mantis breathed an audible sigh of relief.

' _Thank God for that! It'd be truly low to have to refer to him as being actually above me!'_ Mantis mused. Turning back to his new collection of books, he looked them over one last time.

The books in particular were a mix of history books, biology textbooks, travel brochures and technology magazines; All the general information of this world contained in the thick pages. Telekinetically taking a stool from one of the corners and sitting down with his coffee, Mantis began reading through the first book he'd found.

"Let's see… _The Study of Aura & The Soul_…"

* * *

During her training to be a huntress, Ruby had gone through many endurance challenges and trials purposed to test her will and determination to battle the dark creatures of Grimm.

However, no huntsman academy teacher could have ever trained her to survive one of Yang's legendary hugs.

"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister's coming to Beacon with me! This is the best day _ever_!" The buxom brawler exclaimed, holding a squirming Ruby in a bear hug.

"Pweash… S-Shtahp…!" Ruby whimpered, struggling for air in her sister's powerful arms. "But I'm so proud of you!" Yang said giddily, releasing her sister and jumping from excitement.

"Really, sis… it was nothing." Ruby sighed tiredly. Yang, evidently, had a different view.

"What do you mean!? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon's gonna think you're the bee's knees!" She countered, gesturing around the room inside the airship they were travelling in.

"Yeah, I don't want to be the bee's knees, okay? I don't want to be any kind of knees!" Ruby cried, feeling both embarassment and nervousness creeping onto her, "I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees!"

Yang seemed perplexed at Ruby's hesitation. "What's with you? Aren't you excited?"

"Of course I'm excited! I just… I got moved ahead _two years_ ; I don't want people to think I'm special or anything." Ruby stated somberly, fixating her gaze on the ground. Yang walked around and wrapped a gentle arm around her sister's shoulder.

"But you _are_ special." She stated, her voice sounding softer and more motherly, and Ruby nearly cracked a smile. Before either of them could talk any more, however, a holographic screen popped up near the center in the side of the airship.

"… The robbery was headed by nefarious criminal, Roman Torchwick, who attempted to escape the scene of the crime in a stolen Bullhead. Before he could make his escape, however, it wa destroyed and shot down to the streets as a result of the effort of huntresses who happened upon the robbery, as well as an as-of-yet unknown adolescent child reportedly said to have a psychokinesis Semblance. Although no fatalities or injuries were reported and the Bullhead having been destroyed, authorities have found no evidence that Torchwick perished in the incident and are still on the lookout." The news reporter Cyril reported. The screen showed Roman's mugshot, his confident smirk and sneering eyes showing no fear or alarm at having been arrested at the time of this mugshot being taken. He was clearly right to have been confident considering he had apparently managed to break out. Then, to Ruby's surprise, the screen opened another image, this time one of a photographic picture showing the floating telekinetic boy she'd fought alongside the previous night.

It was different than the one Ozpin had shown her, as it appeared to have been taken by someone standing in the balcony of one of the buildings that the Bullhead crashed near since the street that Ruby and Glynda were standing on wasn't visible in it. A rising cloud of smoke and ash could clearly be seen on the left side of the picture, and although the destroyed wreck wasn't visible, a fiery orange glow from underneath where the smoke cloud was coming from proved it was there. The picture was then enlarged and enhanced to focus on the top right corner, and everyone in the airship could now clearly make out the image of a young adolescent boy with wild and unruly bright red hair partially silhouetted by the moonlight, wearing a partially fastened black straitjacket and a gas mask with orange-tinted lenses, all the while somehow hovering in mid-air. His head and body were leaned back and his arms were spread out to his sides, giving the impression that he was laughing proudly at his destructive handiwork. Many of the would-be students began murmuring and gossiping between themselves, usually either commenting on his outfit, what his potential Semblance could be and/or where he came from and if anybody in the airship recognized him. "If you have any information on Roman Torchwick or this young child's whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department." Cyril finished before handing the floor to Lisa Lavender.

"Psycho Mantis…" Ruby muttered, staring at the image of the familiar boy. As excited as she was to enter Beacon, she still could not stop thinking about this so-called "Psycho Mantis". Now that she really paid attention to his appearance, she noticed that the way he held his arms up in the air with his outstretched jacket sleeves drooping down reminded her of an actual praying mantis with its extended forelimbs raised in front of it. Unfortunately, she had spoken loud enough for her sister to hear her.

"Aw! Does my wittle sister have a secret rendezvous planned with her dark vigilante?" She teased with a cheshire grin. Ruby's face instantly became as red as her namesake, pulling herself away from Yang and shaking her head and hands in front of her furiously.

"Y-Yang! O-Of course not! We only worked together for, like, three minutes, and then he just… I dunno, disappeared without saying anything!" She exclaimed, looking anywhere except at her sibling. Yang chuckled at her sister's reaction.

"You sure? He probably could've given you his number in less than three minutes. Plus, he's definitely got that cool and mysterious vibe goin' on, and he could probably help you make _all kinds_ of weapons and upgrades with his Semblance... don'tcha think?" Yang continued. Ruby's face suddenly changed to that of a faraway look at the thought, imagining what it could be like working together with Mantis.

"Ohmygosh, I know, right? His gas mask looks so creepy but so cool at the same time, and we could probably wipe out a hundred Ursai together with our combined awesomeness and amazingness, and help me make my baby Crescent Rose so much stronger and deadlier and—YANG, stop it!" Ruby finally caught on, blushing furiously. She honestly didn't hold any romantic feelings for the boy at all, and Yang knew it; She just loved to tease her still-growing sister in any way she could.

"Well, if you ever do see him again, you better tell me so I can meet him! If he's as strong as you _love_ to keep saying, we could have an awesome practice match!" Yang grinned, punching her fists together. Ruby had boasted and chattered all night about the strength of this so-called "Mantis" after she'd been sent home, and if he was truly all that powerful, then Yang wanted badly to test her might against his. Some might say it would be wrong for her to fight him since he was clearly younger than her by one or two years, but then again, so was Ruby, who was a force to be reckoned with in her own right.

The entire time they had been talking, the news continued on to Lisa Lavender's report on a peaceful faunus protest that had been turned violent by the involvement of the White Fang. Before the report could get too in-detail, however, the report was cut short by a different holographic image appearing where the video had been playing. A figure appeared in the holograph, whom Ruby recognized from the night befoe as Glynda Goodwitch.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon." Glynda's holograph stated without any trace of an actual warm, welcoming tone, "My name is Glynda Goodwitch, ("Oh." Yang said, wondering who she was) you are among the privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy."

"Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future hunstmen and huntresses, it is _your_ duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." She finished, an air of warning yet also comfort in her voice. Within seconds, her holographic image vanished, allowing the students to look out the window it and the news report earlier had been blocking. Upon glimpsing the view outside, Ruby immediately felt overtaken by the beauty.

"Oh, wow…!" She muttered, leaving Yang's side to get a better view. Pressing her hands to the glass, the young reaper was astonished at the amazing sights below, "Look! You can see Signal from up here…!" She said excitedly, hearing Yang walk up to the window besides her, "… I guess home isn't too far after all." She stated with a nostalgic tone, happy yet somewhat sad to leave Signal and everyone still in it behind. Yang stepped up behind her sister, planting a comforting hand on her shoulder, all previous thoughts of the young psychic gone for now.

"Beacon's our home now." She said simply. Ruby smiled over her shoulder at her, the pressures and weights on her shoulders dissipating.

"Uggghhh…" A masculine voice off to their right moaned. Glancing over, they saw a blonde young man wearing a black short sleeve hoodie with a diamond-shaped chestplate with white spaulders and black sneakers, as well as currently trying to desperately hold in his breakfast. The young man hurriedly rushed past the two girls, keeping his palm plastered over his mouth, clearly suffering from motion sickness.

"Well… I guess the view isn't for everyone." Yang commented, making sure she and Ruby gave the scraggly blonde a wide berth.

"Eh, it was a good moment while it lasted." Ruby replied, staring back out to the bright skies above and the warm sea below.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **And that's it for this chapter! Sorry this one was devoid of any real action and just had talk and exposition, and I know, I said I was gonna make Loose, Released, Freedom my priority. However, I did not expect for this story to get so many views and visitors in the first few days! Seriously, at this rate, this story is proving to be more popular than my first ever was in the first day! So, if this is what you guys want, then who am I to deny y'all?**

 **Feel free to leave a review about your thoughts, I want to make sure I get this story right. For those concerned that Psycho Mantis might be going soft anytime soon just because of some hospitality and kindness, don't worry; If I were going to write a story like that, I definitely wouldn't have chosen a character like Psycho Mantis. Again, I will not be giving Mantis an Aura nor a Semblance, 1) He isn't from Remnant and thus wouldn't have the same traits that Remnant humans have that allow them to use Aura, and 2) He's strong enough as it is, as demonstrated in MGS1 and MGSV. It'd be like giving Godzilla the ability to go Super Saiyan. Just no.**

"Agreed. Now, shut up so I can keep reading in peace, this 'Dust' is getting far more interesting by the paragraph!"

 **Fine, just don't give yourself a papercut, shrimp.**

"Oh, you little-!"

 **Aaaand that's my cue to leave! Have a good one, peace!**

 **EDIT: Fixed some errors.**


	3. New World, New Problems

**Chapter 3: New World, New Problems**

 **A/N**

 **I AM NOT DEAD! Here we are with another chapter! I know I haven't updated lately… okay, for like, MONTHS.**

 **And I have no excuse. BUT, hopefully this makes up for it! :D**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Metal Gear. They belong to Rooster Teeth and Konami, respectively.**

* * *

 _There was nothing. No sound, no feeling, no anything._

 _There had been nothing for quite some time. Just endless darkness, befitting those who had nothing to start with. That, and a strange… lifting sensation? No, that wasn't quite right… more like… floating down a river? Something like that. He hadn't been in one to quite tell. And now he never would._

 _He couldn't tell if it had been a few days or a few centuries. It made sense after a while; Time had no relevance in this place… or was it a state of being? Once again, he had no idea. And once again, it really didn't matter._

 _And then, he heard them. The screams. The painful, wracking,_ _ **horrid**_ _screams. They both echoed around the vast space and entrenched themselves in the same spot all at once, splitting through the silence like an unstoppable torrent of hacking blades. He could hear their wordless begs for mercy, for empathy, for anything from whatever was about to hurt those making the awful screams._

 _Luckily, he was already used to the sounds of endless screams in his life. Whatever salvations or mercies they were screaming for, he had long been used to the fact that is would usually not come to them._

 _But at the same time, something else happened; He_ _ **moved**_ _._

That _was a shock in of itself. During the entire eternity he'd been like… this… he hadn't once gone anywhere. Well, it_ felt _like he was in a moving current, but one that was moving in an endless loop, never truly going someplace new._

 _But this was different. It was almost like… sliding…? Yes, sliding, that was the word. Well, the one closest to describing just what the hell was happening, anyway. He was going somewhere. Of course, he had no idea where. Hell? Reincarnation? Whatever it was, it couldn't be stopped now._

 _And then one scream rose above the others._

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUHHAAAAAAAAAAGH!"**_

 _It rocked him to his core. While the other voices seemed like knives flying about, this one was like a terrible beast that tore through everything and everyone in its path. It spoke of incomprehensible pain and torture, the likes of which would leave any mind in shattered pieces of its former self. It represented suffering incarnated. And if he wasn't so adapted to the many,_ _ **many**_ _sources of pain and anguish that existed, he might not have been able to endure it._

 _But he was._

 _And then… he could see. Somewhat. Not really. Well, yes, he could, but it was… distant. Like his own point of view was pushed backwards into his own head so that everything his eyes normally saw as close-up suddenly seemed far away. Even stranger, he was in a body… but it was not his. It felt alien and uncomfortable, like a shirt that was a size too small and was on backwards, but was still wearable albiet not very practical._

 _Goodness, he was going to drive himself insane trying to make sense of everything with comparisons…_

" _Mantis? Are you awake, old friend?"_

… _Who was that? It seemed… familiar… but also not. The voice was familiar… but the tone was more so… almost…_

"… _Liquid…?" Mantis breathed hoarsely, feeling his senses somewhat return. He couldn't feel anything, but he could somehow tell he was lying on a hospital bed in a white room. He could see, but it was more like he was looking at a screen displaying live footage from someone else's perspective. He felt his new eyes looking around before finally resting on a man sitting in a chair nearby with his arms crossed expentantly. Upon recognizing him, Mantis was so shocked he might've died… again._

" _Wait…_ Ocelot!?" _He demanded, wanting to sit up but was unable to even budge this new body he was stuck in. True, he heard Ocelot's voice, but it seemed more aged, appropriate given his much older and more wrinkled appearance. Most shockingly, though… it carried Liquid's soul. During their time together in FOXHOUND, Revolver Ocelot had never once spoke to Mantis in such a manner, even during life-or-death situations when no one was sure they would survive. And whenever they did speak, it was usually only when necessary, such as passing along acquired information in the field._

 _Only their boss, Liquid, ever talked to Mantis like that. Everyone else was either too afraid or too repulsed to even get near him, which he preferred._

" _Hah-hah-hah! Make no mistake; it is me, old friend! In a new—er, older body perhaps, but it's still me!" The man who appeared as Ocelot but talked like Liquid laughed. Mantis tried to shake his head but only managed to barely nudge it from side to side. "Wait, nevermind that…_ How am I alive!? **And where's my mask!?** _" He thundered, equal parts dumbfounded and angry. 'Liquid' calmly stood up and grabbed a mirror off a nearby table. Now that he noticed, Mantis saw several pieces of complex machinery around the bed he was on, their purpose unknown to him._

" _You needn't worry about that, old friend. Just take a look." He offered. The right hand on Mantis' new body – which he didn't feel any form of control over but still somehow caused it to move – grasped it and turned it around to show his 'face'._

"… Svyatoy Ad _…" Mantis uttered as he stared at what was supposedly his reflection. Staring back was the perplexed face of a young South American woman with long black hair and dressed in some sort of strange form-fitting suit. The most striking thing about her features, Mantis discovered, however, was her grey eyes: They held the source of one of the biggest reserves of pain and sadness he'd ever encountered. He could sense the ocean of sorrow lying beneath her unassuming exterior._

"… _Wh-What… happened to me…?" He breathed uneasily and all of a sudden finding it hard to breathe. Seeing his plight, Liquid Ocelot grabbed Mantis' 'shoulder' and made him look him In the eyes. "It was the only way to bring you back, Mantis. It's a new body, and we've barely managed to… empty it enough to implant you inside. Can you see into her memories?" Liquid asked._

 _Look into her memories Mantis did. He shouldn't have been surprised yet still was when he found that delving into her memories was as easy as looking into his own._

 _And then he understood. Images of dark rooms, blood-stained floors stretching for miles, glinting blades stabbing into victims young and old, piles of bodies hitting low ceilings, and the many,_ _ **many**_ _screams that cut deeply through each and every memory. Only at the far, far back did he finally find the happy, jovial smiles of family... and even then, it was blurred and faded, drowned out by the misery and torment in every other flashback._

"… _Ah, I see. The apptly named Dirty War, was it? Odd name considering_ all _battlegrounds are bound to be filthy and unkempt." Mantis stated casually, his psyche and mind unaffected by the horrible memories._

 _He'd seen worse._

 _Equally unfazed, Liquid nodded in confirmation, his arms behind his back in a business-like manner. "Correct. Poor girl practically lost her mind in the old torture chambers before we found her. We have three others like her who have all but lost their sanity from wars and conflicts all over the globe."_

"… _What the Devil happened to you?" Mantis asked bluntly, wanting a straight answer. Liquid sighed, once again taking a seat. "Much has happened after Shadow Moses, old friend. It'll take me a while to explain, but you can just probably read into my memories for yourself. For now, though, you should know the reason you're still 'alive' is because you have been laying dormant within those nanomachines for at least nine years, and I have a… proposition to make."_

 _That, in of itself, already had Mantis' intrigue. "Is it the kind that involves what I do best? Because I'm not too sure I'll be able to move and do as I please in this body like my own; I can already feel her stirring within, trying to retake control. Not exactly beneficial on a battlefield where everyone is trying to kill me."_

 _A soft chuckle left Liquid Ocelot's hoarse throat. "Oh, you needn't worry about that, Mantis. In the time you were laying dormant, the technology of the world has grown tremendously. And, of course, so have the ways man has developed to kill each other. We figured your psychokinesis might've been a bit hampered by the implant of your nanomachines, so I had my best engineers develop state-of-the-art combat suits for your new host as well as the rest of your subordinates."_

 _Mantis followed along eagerly, growing more and more excited, up until he heard "subordinates". "Wait… 'subordinates'? I will be in command of my own unit?" He asked. Ocelot nodded. "The Beauty and the Beasts Unit. Remember those women I spoke of earlier?"_

"… _Oh, you wicked devil!" Mantis laughed heartily in understanding, and managed to slap his knee. Liquid joined in as well, though much softer and not nearly as loud or rambuctious. "Hoh-hoh, well, in any case, you should have no trouble commanding them, Mantis. They barely have any wills or even minds of their own, and with the new technology you will be receiving, you will be back on the battlefield and working solely under my command, no one else's. What do you say?"_

 _All of this had been much to digest. Mantis had been essentially resurrected from the dead, given a body to share with a woman suffering from PTSD, and was about to use her to command another, high-tech unit comprised of deadly female warriors._

 _This sounded interesting._

" _You had me at 'battlefield', Liquid." He chuckled._

* * *

"Ugh… again…?" Mantis moaned as he slowly awakened, the morning sun's rays shining through his bedroom. It had been quite some time since he'd last experienced such memories in his sleep, and since his younger body wasn't as developed as his previous one when he first died, it had taken a bit of a toll on his head. Quickly gaining full consciousness and losing any bits of exhaustion, the young psychic took the time to look back on the last few months.

The days had quickly went by for the psychic. Tukson never had him actually work in the storefront when customers were present, clearly feeling that Mantis' gas mask and general overall appearance might be a bit off-putting. Not that Mantis minded, he'd never been one for social interaction to begin with.

It also gave him plenty of free time to read about this new world in the room Tukson gave him. The psychic usually found himself sitting near the foot of his bed, reading into one of the books he had initially collected. And needless to say, he was deeply fascinated by the seemingly mystical properties this world had compared to Earth.

First and foremost, it's name: Remnant. Did that have something to do with the moon, which had been apparently blasted by some cosmic catastrophe and literally left as remnants of what it once was? Or the fact that humanity was at odds with a race of beings called "faunus" that could cause the world to descend into war and crumble to pieces and "remnants" of its peaceful state? Regardless of whichever it was, the relationship between humans and faunus was… interesting, to say the least.

Faunus. As far as Mantis could tell within the pages of Tukson's books, faunus were essentially just regular people with one or two animal parts and sometimes had habits and desires that matched whatever animal they were part of. They and Remnant's humanity had some kind of literally war-torn relationship that stemmed from mankind looking down on them as mere animals and thieves. Treating them like overall trash. That made no sense to Mantis whatsoever, since it had been apparent that faunus had senses and abilities surpassing any regular human, and therefore should've been superior to and above them. In the past, faunus had tried to peacefully gain equality alongside mankind by forming a peaceful activist organization known as the White Fang. However, as humanity's rapidly apparent discrimination continued to bear down on them, its formerly peaceful methods turned violent and dangerous, using terrorist tactics to target humans of specific power who discriminated against faunus, as well as any faunus who attempted to side with mankind. Currently, the White Fang was a worldwide threat and had roots in every major populated area on Remnant. As of late, they were mainly sticking to supply raids and robberies, which Mantis presumed were to gather resources to mount future attacks.

However, he had by no means been surprised by this revelation. Humans had such a capacity to hurt that he'd waved off the thought of them arrogantly denouncing theoretically superior beings. He'd even been glad to find out another odd peculiarity of this world: The Grimm. Demonic, soulless creatures that not only did not have any (thus far) observable need to feed, but specifically attacked humans and faunus and literally no other creature else unless some territorial dispute between them was the case, and even then it hardly escalated to death and bloodshed between Grimm and the animals they met with. They came in endless varieties and forms, each stronger and deadlier than the last, and seemed to evolve over time with the sole purpose of killing humans and faunus. And Mantis loved them to no end.

' _Finally, something specifically designed to kill off mankind, aside from itself! If only Earth had such a force to remind man how truly puny and pathetic it is… Oum, you were truly a genius!'_ Mantis jeered in his mind when he first read about them, chuckling darkly when he had read several cases of Grimm breaking into kingdoms and slaughtering civillians and military personnel alike. So terrible was this endless plague of death called Grimm that humanity had been forced to mainly reside in four kingdoms separated by immense oceans, towering mountains, thick jungles and abysmal deserts. As of now, they were Vaccuo, Atlas, Mistral, Menagerie – which seemed to be some closed off area where faunus were dumped off to live – and, the kingdom he was currently residing inside, Vale. Of course, mankind had a few other chief defenses aside from erecting giant walls and turrets: Aura, Semblance, and their specialized users known as huntsmen and huntresses. Right off the bat, Mantis did not like these strange warriors.

Huntsmen and huntresses were described as trained warriors specifically called upon the defend humanity's borders and citizens against the creatures of Grimm. Not only were they highly trained and disciplined, and had to be trained in specialized huntsmen academies strictly for fighting and killing Grimm, but they also possessed a few key traits that distinguished them from regular military personnel, such as the use of Aura; which was, in essence, the physical manifestation of someone's soul. It could be used as a skin-tight barrier to block attacks of almost any kind as well as heal certain wounds mid-battle. It had to be unlocked, however, in order to be utilized and mastered. As far as Mantis could tell, only the people known as huntsmen and huntresses mainly had that ability, as well as Semblances. Semblances, bluntly put, were an individual's single and unique superhuman ability that enhanced their combat prowess and helped each huntsman/huntress to create their own fighting style and eliminate the Grimm threats on a daily basis.

' _So, that must've been what that red-wearing girl used to move so quickly, and those women to shoot fire and create stone missiles… most likely a speed Semblance for that girl, in hindsight.'_ Mantis realized, _'All the better, then, that my psychokinesis can easily blend in as just another Semblance. Now… just what is this 'Dust'?'_

Dust had been the most peculiar oddity of Remnant. It was a strange form of crystal mined from deep underground, and had not just one, but many different types and varieties that stemmed from four main types: Fire Dust could be used to create explosions and fire-based attacks like that fiery-eyed woman he encountered, Earth Dust could control rocks and the ground for environmental manipulation, Ice Dust could create slippery footing to knock foes off-balance and/or freeze them solid, and Lightning Dust could control electricity and power devices such as cars, airships and the handheld devices called Scrolls that weren't dissimilar to the cellular phones back on Earth. For some reason, though, Dust in all forms ceased functioning when outside Remnant's atmosphere, and apparently oil wasn't a thing – yet – on Remnant, so there hadn't yet been any expeditions to the moon nor to any of the planets in Remnant's solar system.

' _So, not only is humanity somehow able to get away with discriminating a technically better race here, but it can't even find a way to leave the planet with all these damn near mystical sources of energy?'_ Mantis scoffed, having closed the final book with a sigh, _'Apparently, mankind really is a waste of flesh and space no matter what world it takes root in. Good to know.'_

Those discoveries had happened only about two months ago, so Mantis had had plenty of time to mull over his thoughts. Being a child wasn't THAT bad; It was just the pretense of having to act like one that grinded his gears. Right now, he was reading a novel that Tukson let him read after helping him finish several calculations on the store's revenue count and the amount of new stock they'd need. Luckily, Mantis' intelligence meant that such math was little more than a fly for him to solve.

' _At least the literature here is decent. THAT definitely helped keep my sanity intact.'_ Mantis commented in his head. He already sitting in his usual spot and closed the book he was currently on, having already finished most of the other books he'd considered up to his standards in Tukson's bookstore. A few seconds later, several knocks on the door interrupted his thoughts. Looking up, the psychic twisted the doorknob and opened the door without leaving his bed. Tukson was standing in the doorway, as he'd always gone to wake up Mantis whenever he hadn't awakened by himself.

"Morning, Mantis." He began. Upon spying the book in psychic's lap, he asked "Did you already finish that book?"

Mantis shook his head, "Not quite yet. I must say, these are quite informative and detailed, Tukson." He commented, "I thank you once again for lending them to me."

"Don't worry about it, they're still technically in my possession, so it's not like I can make you pay for them." Tukson replied. Then, his demeanor turned a bit more serious, and Mantis could sense it without using his power, "Anyway, I just came in here to tell you that I need to go out and buy some more groceries, since I didn't anticipate another mouth to feed. I need you to watch over the shop until I'm back, okay?"

Mantis raised his eyebrows in confusion under his mask, "You want me to run the bookstore in your place?"

"Eh, I trust you enough not to make a mess out of the place or play around with people's heads. Besides, business has been a little slow as of late, and I shouldn't be gone longer than thirty minutes, so it's not like I'm leaving you alone for long anyways." Tukson shrugged. Mantis hopped off the bed and walked with Tukson downstairs.

"It's not going to be anything hard: If you hear someone ringing this bell, here," Tukson gestured to the call bell on the desk, "You are to serve and help them with whatever they might need, and if they happen to break any of our rules, do your best to politely get them to leave the premises. Understand?"

Psycho Mantis almost wanted to groan. With a mental sigh, he raised gave Tukson a childish thumbs up.

"Got it." He affirmed. Tukso smiled warmly. "Great! I'll be back soon, so don't get _too_ comfortable."

Mantis stood silently behind the front desk as he watched Tukson exit the bookstore and walk down the street. As soon as he was gone, Mantis sighed, levitated himself up and casually lay himself down on the counter, propping his head up on his hand.

"Hmm… what to do, what to do…" Mantis wondered aloud. Tukson was officially out of the store and temporarily left to leave him to handle the store. Looking back on it, he shouldn't have been that surprised; In the few months of him being here, he'd proven quite handy and intelligent to Tukson, helping him count each day's cash amount and shelving new copies. It only made sense Tukson could trust him to handle the store by himself.

He paused in his thoughts. Helping someone…

' _What in the hell is this place doing to me…?'_ Mantis wondered with contempt. Every time he used his psychokinetic power to help Tukson around the place, he felt it: That strange, alien sensation that made him feel like he could fly _without_ his power. Well, not _quite_. He remembered it when he first helped Solid Snake all those years ago, when he used his dying breath to open up the doorway that would lead him to his final duel with Liquid, and the feeling of helping someone then wasn't the same he felt now. When he helped Tukson, it was still to benefit himself by ensuring he had a roof over his head. When he helped Snake back at Shadow Moses, it was when Mantis had nothing to gain and with no benefit to himself… mostly because he was literally dying at that moment and therefore couldn't possibly have benefited from anything. What he felt here was only a slight sliver of that.

Still, Mantis did not like it. Not one bit. It made him feel… nostalgic.

And if it made him feel that way, it made him unfocused. It made him weak. And weakness was something Mantis could never afford.

' _I need to do something… something else that I'm familiar with…'_ He decided. As if on cue, a small bird landed in front of the bookstore, innocently pecking away at the ground for any morsels or crumbs. Mantis noticed the bird.

And snapped his fingers.

*CRIK!*

As soon as that happened, the bird suddenly keeled over and fell to the ground, its neck bent at a horribly unnatural angle. Mantis let out a silent sigh of relief, telekinetically lifting the dead bird and tossing it onto the other side of the street, which was vacant of human or faunus citizens. Strangely, none of the stray cats or dogs that lived in the alleys even tossed a second glance at the otherwise appetizing meal.

"There we go, much better!" He cheered, feeling that strange sensation instantly disappear. Content, he hopped off the counter and turned to the doors that led to the back. Tukson had never let him inside his office during his stay thus far… and now that he'd left Mantis alone, there was nothing keeping him from taking a peek. Mantis wasn't an idiot, he knew Tukson was hiding important things from him. True, he could've broken in during the other times Tukson left for errands, but he wasn't as curious or bored back then, either. He'd decided against just outright reading his mind and memories, however; There wouldn't be any fun out of simply reading the secrets straight out of him.

Now, deliberately breaking into his things and rummaging through his personal objects? THAT he was up for and actually held entertainment value!

Floating through the hallway, he wasn't surprised to see that Tukson had locked the door leading to his offce. Not one to be easily deterred, Mantis extended an arm to the door and focused, channeling his power through the gears and screws holding the door shut. If he'd simply torn the door off its hinges, he had no idea how to fix it in a way that suggested it never happened. It'd no doubt get Tukson's attention and force him to either erase Tukson's memory of it or brainwash him into believing it was never there, and Mantis wanted to abstain from using his power in such a trivial fashion.

*CLICK!*

"Ah, there we go!" Mantis sighed, unlocking the door from the very mechanisms of the lock and pushing it open, revealing Tukson's neatly organized and clean office room. There was a large desk near the back, though smaller than the one in the storefront, and it was surrounded by about several filing cabinets in the different corners of the room. Mantis cackled to himself, ready to find whatever secrets Tukson held in here.

*DING!*

"Tukson? Hello! You there?" A feminine voice asked. "Oh, keep your voice down, Miltia, it's supposed be like a library where you keep your voice down, right?" A similar voice retorted.

"… _chertov…_!" Mantis swore under his breath, flipping his hood back to show his red hair as he turned and headed back through the corridor. He mentally prepared his voice to sound friendly as he rounded the corner to the storefront. What greeted him was the sight of two teenage girls with long, black hair in similar yet very different attire.

The one on the left was wearing a white and cyan strapless dress, a feathery scarf, gloves on her hands with a matching bracer on the left wrist, a bow on her dress, and oddly enough, aesthetic wings on her back and long boots with heels that seemed… dangerously sharp. The girl beside her looked very much the same except with a red outfit, her dress being of a blood red color and a choker on her neck, feathery accesories being visible on her shoulders and ear, a black bow on her waist and long boots with heels that weren't nearly as thin-edged as her apparent twin. Strangely enough, her dress seemed to be decorated or even made of _newspapers_ of all things, although what stood out to Mantis the most were the curved blades stored on her arms attached to long gloves. Both girls wore heavy makeup and had pale complexions. The white-dressed girl rose her eyebrows at Mantis' strange appearance while the red-wearing one took a step back in caution.

"Uh… what the hell?" The white-dressed one snorted upon seeing Mantis' strange appearance, "Is Halloween this early? Or did Tukson get seriously desperate for employees? Oum, and I thought Xiong had issues..."

Mantis' eye twitched under his mask but he kept his composure, "Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the Sun! Don't worry, this mask is just a… habit of mine, nothing serious." He greeted, waving cheerfully at them. The red-dressed one took a few steps closer and peered curiously at him, "Oh, is that a gas mask? Where'd you find it? It looks cool!" She commented with a smile. This time, Mantis was at a loss for words; No one had ever complimented his _mask_ before. Several awkward seconds of silence passed before the red-dressed girl spoke again.

"Okay, how old are you, kid? I don't think it's "Bring your son to work day" already, not that Tukson could even have a kid." The white-dressed one commented, folding her arms suspiciously. Mantis nearly sighed in irritation, "No, I am most assuredly _not_ Tukson's son. He, er… found me on the street. Let's just say that my family… made some _very_ powerful people angry, and I was forced into hiding to save myself. Tukson found me and let me stay in exchange for me helping him with the store, so… it's a win-win." He explained, reusing the lie and using a fake sad voice. It wasn't _all_ a lie, he was sure that woman on airship wasn't dead yet and would surely bear a grudge.

"Aww, Tukson took you in?" The red twin smiled, nudging her sister, "See, told ya he wasn't all cold business talk like Junior!"

"Ugh, fine, sheesh." She relented before turning her attention back to Mantis. "You said you pissed off some bad eggs? Not too surprised, there are a lot of ugly rats crawling around Vale. You seem pretty smart for a kid, but I'll tell you anyway that you should probably stay off the streets for a _long_ while."

Mantis almost wanted to laugh at the prospect of him being frightened by any of the street thugs he'd ever seen, but kept it to himself. "Duly noted, miss. So, what may I do for you?"

"Uh, yeah, we just kinda came here to buy a book that Tukson promised us after we saved up enough cash. Well," She paused to shrug and gesture to her sister, "More like Miltia over here really wanted a book but didn't have the cash at first, and only now _finally_ saved enough Lien to buy it."

The newly-dubbed Miltia bawked indignantly, "Like you're one to talk! You never seem to be able to save much of any of your earnings because you keep using them to buy so much hair conditioner, Melanie!"

Melanie waved off her sister's rebuttal as if it were a fly, "Only because I actually _need_ my conditioner, little sis. But whatever," She turned to look straight at Mantis with bored eyes, "Just get Miltia her book before our break ends, Junior's gonna throw a hissy fit if we aren't back soon."

Mantis did not know who this "Junior" was, but it seemed clear from Melanie's words that he was an associate of Tukson's and owned some sort of business. Not that Mantis really cared, it didn't seem like something that could be considered a big secret. Then again…

Miltia stepped forwards and held up a dark red purse, taking out a particular sum of Lien and showing it to Mantis. " _The Legend of The War Runners_ , please. You still carry it, right?" She asked hopefully, placing the money back in her purse. Mantis put a hand to his chin in thought.

"Hmm… Ah, yes! We still have two copies of that novel! Please excuse me for a moment." Mantis walked out from behind the desk and towards one of the shelves situated to the right of the main desk. Looking up at the top row, he quickly found what he was looking for. He extended his arm towards it, and Melanie was about to open her mouth to snarkily point out that he was too short to even reach it when the novel suddenly floated off its spot on the shelf and moved slowly through the air into Mantis' hand. He turned around and attempted to hand it to Miltia.

"One copy of _The Legend of The War Runners_ for… uh, hello?" He began but was cut off by the stunned stares from both Miltia and Melanie. This in of itself was confusing to Mantis; Isn't the concept of everyone having their own unique ability a regular thing in this world?

"Uh… did you just levitate that book? Like, with your mind?" Melanie asked cautiously, shifting her sharpened heels cautiously. Before Mantis could answer, Miltia also broke from her stupor, her eyes going even wider and her mouth about to spew a large amount of questions. At that moment, however… her eyes narrowed suddenly, a spark of recognition in her irises.

And that feeling of being recognized terrified Mantis out of his wits.

"Wait…" Miltia began, her gaze beginning to scrutinize him and Melanie watched with mild curiosity, "Cool gas mask… crappy hair… pissed some people off… mind powers…" She slowly pieced together. Mantis tilted his head to show confusion, but internally he was screaming in fear and anxiety that he might be recognized and his whereabouts spread across the kingdom. Then, the worst happened.

"Oh! You're that Psycho Mantis guy!" Miltia suddenly shouted, beaming joyfully at her revelation and pointing with carefully trimmed and painted nails at Mantis. Behind her, Melanie adopted a look of shock, staring with wide eyes at Mantis before her facial features too showed signs of recognition. "No way! The half-pint that took down an airship!?"

Mantis took two steps back, subconsciously holding his arms out in their signature position as he began pooling his power in his mind in case drastic measures had to be taken. _'How in hell did they find out my name!?'_ He raged in his head, searching for answers and finding none.

"Oh no, no! I'm afraid you must be mistaken! I do not possess nearly the amount of power needed for such a feat!" He tried to convince them, feeling his pride take a hit from denying he did such a thing. Miltia, however, did not seem convinced.

"No way, you're definitely that Psycho Mantis guy! That gas mask, that hair, your weird mind powers, there's no way it isn't you!" She asserted, glaring slightly at him. Mantis cursed internally, seeing that the situation was quickly getting out of hand. To make matters worse, Melanie stepped in as well, cocking a hip and resting her wrist on it as she too scrutinized him. "Wait a sec… My Oum, it really is you. Hey, how on Remnant does a dweeb so short have the power to drop a flying hunk of metal from the sky like a flyswatter?"

At this point, Mantis was getting more and more frustrated, both by their backhanded jabs and his identity being found out. He still hadn't fully been able to practice his ability to manipulate minds in his younger body without putting a serious toll on himself, and brainwashing two teenage girls seemed like a serious waste of his power. Still, if there were no other options available, he might just have to.

"Well… I gotta say, you've picked a great spot to hide out! I seriously doubt anyone could find you here!" Miltia commented in a slight whispering tone with a praising smile.

'… _What?'_ Mantis asked himself. Were… were these girls about to keep his whereabouts a secret?

Deciding that denying who he was would get him nowhere at this point, Mantis sighed in resignation. "How did you know who I am? And… are you saying you still won't tell anyone I'm here?" He asked cautiously, still internally preparing his psychokinetic power to use force if necessary. Both Miltia and Melanie scoffed, as if the idea of ratting out Mantis' location and identity to anyone who might want to know was a joke.

"You kidding? You shot down an airship and lit it into a glorified bonfire in the middle of the street with a single attack, were you expecting it to _not_ make the news? Seriously, you're all everyone's been talking about, especially in the darker parts of town." Melanie explained casually, "Oh, and by the way… those goons that you and that old huntress fought were associates of ours. Specifically, our boss, Junior. They were hired by that douche, Roman Torchwick, to rob a boatload of Dust for Oum-knows-what. Until, of course, you and that Goodwitch bitch tossed them in the slammer and wrecked their getaway flight."

That didn't make Mantis feel any better, knowing that these girls were associated with people who very well consider him a threat. He also chastised himself, feeling stupid for not knowing that something like a flying vehicle being blasted to smithereens within a heavily-populated area would undoubtedly be investigated deeply and featured in news all around the city.

"And… need I worry about you spilling the beans on my whereabouts to those with less-than-positive intentions?" He asked cautiously, slightly entering a defensive position and using his power to detect any signs of lies and/or deception. To his surprise, Miltia just shrugged and Melanie shook her head with a scoff.

"Meh, I don't think you ought to worry. We don't really give a flying flip what the hell that Torchwick loser wants with you, and Junior's more mad at Torchwick anyway for leaving his goons behind to get thrown in jail. Trust me, kid, he couldn't care less about you, and I'd be seriously surprised if Torchwick can even walk after a crash like that, if he's even still alive." Melanie stated coolly, rolling her eyes.

Mantis leaned his head back in surprise, not just by Melanie's casual tone but also because he could see in the top-most surfaces of their minds that they truly had no intention of spreading the word if his whereabouts to neither their apparently-shady employer nor any of their associates who may want to come after him.

"Oh…" He uttered, honestly believing that he would've had to either brainwash or kill these two girls to keep his secret hidden. "Well… here you go, I suppose." He reached the book still in his hands to Miltia. With a small yet excited smile, she eagerly took it from him and beamed at the cover. She reached back into her purse to give Mantis the Lien needed to pay for it when Mantis held up a hand to stop her.

"It's on the house. Consider it payment for choosing to help me. I'm sure Tukson will understand." Mantis said appreciatively. Miltia looked with surprise, but then giggled happily and bounced on her heels. "Aw, thanks! Tell Tukson I came by for me!"

With that, Miltia turned and skipped out of the bookstore, staring at her new novel happily. Melanie made to follow, but before she did, she turned back to Mantis with a surprisingly soft smile. "Y'know… I ought to thank you, too."

Mantis raised an eyebrow in confusion, prompting Melanie to elaborate, "I mean, we're super good at what we do for Junior, but I get that my sis doesn't really, y'know… _like_ it. And, well, she's been looking forward to getting this damn pile of pages forever now. I don't really get why she even cares about it, but she always sounds super giddy when she talks about it. This was the first time in a looooong while that my sis was this happy about something. So… yeah, thanks for that. See ya around."

With that, Melanie waved goodbye and sauntered out to meet Miltia, who'd been waiting impatiently for her. As they walked away together, Mantis couldn't help but wave back awkwardly, not quite knowing what to do in such a situation.

' _Er, okay, then... I suppose I did my job of making the customers happy...'_ Mantis figured, not too concerned of what Tukson might think or do when he found out Mantis gave away one of his books for free. Sighing in relief that it was over, he immediately turned and headed back to Tukson's office through the hall. Stepping up to the first filing cabinet, he reached out and pulled the first drawer open, and peered inside with a dark glint in his mask's lenses.

* * *

Tukson whistled casually as he strolled down the commercial district of Vale. The sun shined brightly, and he was glad to see that there were no squabbles or bickering breaking out between the faunus and humans living in Vale. A young couple of two deer faunus merrily walked passed him on the sidewalk, holding hands as a bold show of their affection. Tukson couldn't help but give a friendly nod to the male deer faunus, who gave a casual smile back.

"Morning there, Scoperto. Garofana." Tukson greeted the young couple. The male, Scoperto, waved back, "Hey, there you are, Tukson! Whatcha up to? We haven't heard from you in two months, buddy!"

His girlfriend, Garofana, a deer faunus with a fluffy doe tail, leaned against Scoperto. "Yeah, we know you like your space, but you gotta talk to your buddies once in a while!"

Tukson sheepishly raising his arm over his shoulder and scracthing his neck. "Geez, has it already been that long?", he chuckled slightly. "Sorry about that, guys. I, uh… Yeah, something came up and I had to stay in for a while. I am fine, though, thank you."

Scoperto and Garofana gave small, understanding smiles. They were curious about what this "something" was, but knew Tukson well enough that if he didn't want to talk about something, his lips became an iron trap. They could and always did respect his privacy. Just then, a small beeping from Tukson's watch grabbed their attention. Raising his arm to eye level, Tukson realized that it was about 1:30.

"Well, I gotta go; They're having a salmon sale over at the market, so I better get what I can quick." Tukson told them. "Oh, okay. See ya at the shop later, Tuks!" Garofana cheered as she and Scoperto stepped to the side and allowed Tukson by. With a goodbye wave back to them, Tukson continued on his walk, although a bit more brisk. Soon, he was already a dozen yards from the market.

He was lucky he had opened the bookstore so close to it, since it only took him about ten minutes to get there and ten-to-twelve to get back depending on how much he was carrying. It definitely helped that his faunus heritage meant he was physically stronger than most humans, so he would easily be able to buy and carry the added amount of food his new tenant would need.

He frowned. As much as Mantis was a big help around the store, Tukson knew he was probably hiding something from him. It was no secret between the two of them that Mantis had inadvertently angered some very powerful people in the illegal, crime-infested underworld of Vale, which had forced the young psychic into the streets for shelter and was what set in motion the meeting between the two in the first place. However, Tukson couldn't help but feel there was much more to the story, and judging by his work in the storefront as well as his proper use of language compared to nearly every other child Tukson had met, he could tell Mantis was smarter than he probably let on most of the time.

At the same time, though, Tukson knew what it felt like to be on edge and cautious after getting mixed up with shady people, especially after it became apparent that he and the White Fang were a less-than-ideal match. He didn't want to force the youngster into telling him everything, and it certainly didn't seem to hamper his health nor ability to carry out any tasks Tukson gave him, so he let it out of his mind for the most part.

As he neared the grocery store's entrannce, Tukson walked briskly passed the windows, peered within to see the many fruits, vegetables, snacks and desserts inside…

And then casually walked right by the market.

"Sorry, salmon… I'll be right back after I'm done dealing with these… _psychos_." He growled to himself, irritated at the prospect of missing out on the sale. Instead, Tukson reached for his pocket and pulled out a small, faded-brown piece of paper. Looking at its contents, he sighed and continued on, headed towards the city limits. He walked past the commercial districts, to where the leaves turned red and brown as autumn, where the broken moon shined pitifully to the soil below.

He looked around first, then disappeared into an alley behind a clothing store. At the end was a shroud of bushes, dead and brown from insufficient water. Tukson bent low and rummaged his hands past the brambles, delicately pushing them apart. Sure enough, there it was; a large hole in the ground, leading to a tunnel that stretched beyond the city limits and into Forever Fall. After looking around one more time, he hopped into the tunnel and disappeared.

* * *

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Falls is indeed beautiful. But, we are not here to sightsee." Glynda stated sternly, mainly in response to seeing Ruby Rose rubbernecking joyously at the bright nature imagery around them over her shoulder, "Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest." As an afterthought, she added, "And _I'm_ here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

The group was heading through the bright red trees, gazing with wonder at the red leaves littering the floor, giving the forest floor the appearance of being buried under a velvet carpet. Eventually, Glynda came to a stop, the mere action of doing so causing the students following her (except Jaune, who accidentally bumped into an irritated Cardin) to freeze.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates." She warned them seriously, though it didn't seem to cause any of their confidence to waver judging by the eager smiles she saw amongst the students. "We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun." She finished curtly, allowing the teams to get to work.

Before much of anything could happen, Cardin abruptly grabbed Jaune, who was balancing a box in his arms with multiple jars on it. "C'mon, buddy! Let's go!" The large boy smirked arrogantly. The blonde boy carrying the jars was clearly unhappy with being singled out by the racist, his dismay only deepened by Pyrrha's sad and disapproving glance up ahead. With a sorrowful expression, Jaune nodded just slightly and turned to follow Cardin and his team into the woods, leaving the rest of JNPR to gather sap without him.

* * *

Mantis grunted as he opened one of the last cabinets and rummaging slowly through its contents. To his disappointment, it was mainly filled with normal stocking papers and files on what the store carried, just like all the other cabinets. He had been almost certain that Tukson had been hiding something deep from him, but there was nothing here that even came close to that. Even in his desk drawers, there was nothing truly interesting other than usual sales count and recordings that was normal for a bookstore.

"Hmph, seems as though I did all this for nothing. Damn..." He muttered in frustration. As he stepped away to leave the room, however, he barely felt his toe nudge something beneath the black carpet. Raising an eyebrow, Mantis took a step back to peer down at the floor, easily remembering where his toe touched the object. Standing off the carpet, Mantis summoned just enough power to lift the nearest corner of the cloth and reveal a hidden trapdoor just behind his office desk.

"Ah, there we go! Maybe this will have some satisfactory results on what that man is hiding…" He smirked, reaching down with his shrunken fingers into the small opening. Inside was a small space about big enough to contain a watermelon filled with an assortment of envelopes and carefully folded letters that seemed very much different from the regular files and papers he'd found earlier. Reaching inside, Mantis pulled out one of the first letters at the top of the stack and read, as they seemed to be stacked in the order they were received. This particular paper seemed to be the most recent one

"Brother Tukson…

We remind you that utmost trust and loyalty is vital and the most important aspect for all faunus to have in our cause. We understand your hesitance to bring violence our fellow faunus, but those we stand in our way of peace must be eliminated to further our goal to stand above humans. Please understand that the White Fang aims to aid all faunus-kind, and to teach humans to give us the respect we are owed."

At the bottom of the letter was a logo that appeared to be a savage wolf's head with three slash marks crossing behind it, printed in blood red. Mantis's eyes widened upon recognizing the logo from various newspapers and television headlines.

' _The White Fang? What on Earth is Tukson doing being associated with them?'_ Mantis asked himself. During his short time with the man, Mantis never found any evidence to suggest that Tukson was affiliated with terrorists, especially those of another species… unless…

"… Tukson's a faunus himself, isn't he? Really, Miles? THAT'S the big secret for me? Or was it BloodStalker this time? Oum, all these writers are confusing…" Mantis groaned out loud, facepalming in exasperation whilst tilting his head directly up to where the sky would be. Now that he'd thought about it, it made more sense; Tukson had obviously been keeping something from him, and he'd read in the books around the store that some faunus could hide their animal traits, such as chameleon faunus keeping their colors to human ones or horned faunus wearing hats if possible to hide such traits.

The White Fang, as far as he could tell, would not tolerate a human in their ranks unless it was absolutely necessary. And honestly, Tukson did not seem like more than a drop in the bucket compared to the undoubtedly countless White Fang operatives around Remnant, which was saying a lot considering that the majority were likely not much different than regular citizens, both of human and faunus heritage.

Still, though, this was a game changer. The White Fang were clearly a prominent organization with influence all over Remnant, so the fact that Mantis – a human - was living with someone _in their ranks_ was a bit startling. If Tukson wanted, he may be able to alert his superiors within the group about him, his whereabouts and stage an attempt for his fellow operatives to abduct or even kill him. However, if this letter was anything to go by, it appeared that Tukson did not quite agree with the White Fang's barbaric methods. With luck, he might not even have to deal with—

"Wait, what's this here?" Mantis suddenly asked himself. Upon turning the page over, he found more writing on the backside:

"We respectfully request for a meeting between you and a representative to settle any lasting dispute. In order to succesfully work towards a better future for faunus-kind, we must come to final agreement and move forwards, lest we fall to the same petty barbarianism man has. We will await you in the location described by the following coordinates on 10/31/13."

All at once, Mantis' eyes widened.

' _That's today! Damnit…! Of course Tukson would choose today to 'go out to buy groceries'! Whatever happens at that meeting will undoubtedly affect me, since I'm living with the damned bastard!'_ , Mantis raged, filled with realization. Normally, Mantis wouldn't give a damn what the White Fang were up to… but this was different. If Tukson was in deep enough trouble and grew desperate, he might just give up Mantis to the White Fang leaders as proof of his "loyalty" to their cause. If they decided to just kill him outright then and there, however, that would lead Mantis with no way to provide for himself given that he was too young – physically, anyway – to own a shop, and the money in the office and storefront would only last two months or so, and he didn't exactly rejoice at the thought of entering an orphanage nor living on the streets.

He _might_ be able to handle any of those outcomes… but he'd rather not if it could be averted. And attempt to avert it, he would. Honestly, he really didn't care all that much what happened to Tukson, but whatever happened to him as a result of this meeting would surely affect Mantis in some way as well.

Taking another look at the coordinates listed in the note, Mantis hurriedly placed the paper back into the opening, sealed it, locked the office and raced for the back door of the building. Not even bothering to lock up the place, Psycho Mantis raced into the back alleys and took to the skies. Mantis strained his powers to create a light mist from the air that mostly concealed him from any onlookers down below as he flew as fast as his psychokinesis would allow.

' _I swear to all deities in this realm, Tukson…'_ , Mantis seethed in his mind, easily outpacing the birds in the air with him, _'You better not say or do anything stupid! Because, if you do, I might be dragged down with you, you piece of shit!'_

* * *

"Hey! Great work, Jauney-boy!" Cardin jeered from his comfortable seat against one of the many trees in the Forever Fall forest. As he and his teammates watched, a visibly exhausted and slightly dazed-looking Jaune dropped multiple jars of tree sap onto the ground, as well as himself a literal moment later. "Now _that_ wasn't too hard, was it?"

"Ugh… I th-think I'm allergic to this stuff…" Jaune mumbled. Ignoring it, Cardin and his team finally stood up and smirked down at their blackmailed servant. "Great, great, great. So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself: 'Why did my buddy Cardin make me collect _six_ jars of tree sap when there's only _five_ of us?'"

"… That is one of the _many_ questions I have asked myself today, yes." Jaune answered with a mix of sarcasm and exhaustion, not that CRDL seemed to notice. Or care. "Well, come with me, and you'll find out!" Cardin continued with rather enthusiastic tone.

' _Crap, that can't be good…'_ Jaune reminded himself, having been around the bullies long enough that whatever they considered good usually came at someone else's expense. Specifically, Jaune himself.

This time, though, he got the dreadful feeling that, for once, someone else was on Cardin's shit list today, which he didn't consider for a second to be a good thing.

Elsewhere, a certain psychic was also having a rather bad time.

"Come on, come on! I know it must be around here somewhere!" Mantis growled as he shot through the red-colored forest's treetops. It wasn't easy though, considering that not only was he expending psychic energy that he still hadn't managed to properly manage yet, but he also had to stick low to the treetops to ensure he wasn't spotted by Tukson or the White Fang members he was meeting with. _'I need to know what happens there! If anything goes wrong, I'll at least be able to prepare myself to leave before anyone can find me!'_

It didn't help that his masked face was constantly buffeted by branches and leaves, which nearly caused him to crash on multiple occasions. Concentrating to try to find the meeting spot by finding their emotions, Mantis tried to use his mental powers like a radar to find Tukson. All of a sudden, though, Mantis could've sworn he felt _multiple_ people milling about the forest in one area: About thirteen. He peered down, and for the briefest of seconds, he thought he saw several teenagers dressed in different color themes on the forest floor beneath him.

Including a familiar girl wearing a red hood that fluttered like a cape.

' _Wait, what!?'_ Mantis questioned. Due to his immense speed, she appeared as a blur as he sped by, but he plainly recognized the determination and optimism dwelling inside her fragile figure. The same things he sensed within the girl he'd fought alongside against that Roman Torchwick. What was she doing out here?

Mantis shook his head, reminding himself that it didn't matter. He was here to make sure Tukson didn't accidentally make Mantis a target for the White Fang or result in Mantis becoming homeless again if he was killed. He kept moving forwards, nearing closer to where the meeting should've been taking place.

Then he felt it: Frustration, disgust and fear. It was emanating from a source relatively nearby, and was moving slowly yet surely to where Mantis had figured out where Tukson was meeting the White Fang representatives.

' _Bingo, you bastard.'_

Slowing down to a mere 14 miles per hour, Mantis followed the figure deeper into the forest. He wanted to peer into their mind, but his kid body was too underdeveloped for _that_ level of psychokinesis, at least for now. Like a ghost, Mantis drifted through the trees and bushes of the autumn-colored woods, staying just under the thick treetops. Eventuallly, he felt the negative emotions from the figure increase exponentially, as well as stopping completely in its tracks. Now, Mantis also felt two other beings with his target, both of whom with only trace amounts of impatience and stress.

' _Finally. Time to see just what these White Fang are like.'_

Mantis moved forwards to get a good look. Arriving at a clearing and stopping right before the edge, Psycho Mantis predictably found the familiar bury figure of Tukson standing near the middle of the clearing. Facing him were two men, who looked so much alike that Mantis nearly thought they were twins. Both men wore red hoods that covered their heads like cloaks, with black tunics reaching beyond their waists. They wore no shirts other than their black tunics, but had detached white sleeves that covered their arms with pleated knee-reaching white pants and black sandals. The only difference between them were their heights and the fact that one man had large fox ears while the other had a furry fox tail. Both had calm and casual visages, but Mantis could barely sense bits of disapproval and annoyance on the inside. To better hide himself, Mantis stealthily floated up near the treeline so that his red hair blended with the leaves and his dark attire with the shadowed bark and branches.

"Fennec. Corsac." Tukson began, his disdain for the meeting already apparent. "Brother Tukson. Thank you for accepting our request for a meeting." The taller and presumably older of the two strangers greeted back simply.

"Yeah, yeah. Might I ask just what you guys are doing here? I thought I heard you guys were supposed to be over in the Menagerie sector." Tukson commented. The shorter of the two White Fang associates answered, "Not quite yet. We are scheduled to depart for Kuo Kuana within a week's time, so we have a bit of time on our hands."

When he finished, however, both of their demeanors turned darker. "Well, enough about us," the taller man stated quietly, "We both know the purpose and nature of this meeting, do we not, Tukson?"

Tukson sighed deeply. "Of course I do, anyone with a working head woud be disgusted with the thought of killing their own kin!" He snarled with a grimace at the duo, "The White Fang is strong and terrifying as it is, I'm pretty sure most faunus who want out would be too scared to talk to the fuzz anyway. I'm down with taking Lien from humans who think they're different than the dirt they walk on, but I don't see a reason why we have to kill our own brothers for wanting to get away from all the bloodshed!"

"Believe us, we understand your disgust and disapproval to the lengths the White Fang is willing to go to." The younger, fox-eared one responded calmly, "Rest assured, we do not enjoy the thought of having to dispose of our own kin. It is an act that should never have to be condoned."

"However, these are not normal circumstances, Brother Tukson." The taller, fox-tailed one continued, "When we join the White Fang, we swear to pledge our being and souls to attain true quality and justice for all faunus in this world. We agree to lend our very existance and all effort to the cause. Such a monumental oath is not to be treated lightly. Therefore, it is critical that any and all members of the White Fang stay true to the cause and their loyalty to their sworn brothers."

"… And to turn one's back on that sworn loyalty is to turn one's back on all faunus-kind. And _that_ , of course, is nothing short of the greatest betrayal that can be committed against our race. Anyone who has the nerve to commit such a sin deserves no redemption, Tukson. It proves them to be as lowly and filthy as the humans they semmingly despised." The shorter brother finished, this time with a noticeable edge in his tone. Not only did Mantis notice, but it seemed Tukson did as well.

"Well… yes, that is something everyone should agree on." Tukson conceded, although the psychic spy could tell that was a lie that luckily the two brothers seemed to buy, "But, still, why is it an issue if _I_ don't want to be the one taking out the trash? Most of us have more important agendas that don't involve having to deal with a couple cowards, Corsac."

"Because, Tukson," The taller one, now dubbed Corsac, began, "To be able to dispose of such barbaric runaways is but one of the best ways to prove oneself's loyalty to the cause. As disgusting and low as they are, all faunus are still fellow faunus, and threrefore it requires the most determined and passionate soldier to keep the safety and security of the cause by ridding them of our ranks. To be able to eliminate them proves one capable of aiding the White Fang closer to its ultimate goal, and unwavering loyalty is a trait we need in spades if we are ever to complete our mission of granting equality to our Brethren."

Mantis watched with disgust. So far, the White Fang seemed no different than many of the terrorist organizations back home. Frankly, he had seen enough of the whole "the-ends-justifies-the-means" policy, to the point that now it was just getting boring. It only reinforced that faunus were just as toxic and pitiful as the humans they oh-so despised. Mantis was even willing to bet that most of the members of the White Fang just wanted to take their anger out on the world as a whole and were just bitter over what path their lives had taken rather than being personally and individually put down by mankind.

"Well… alright, look. You guys make a good point." Tukson once again lied, seeming to Mantis like he just wanted to get as far away from those men as quickly as possible, "But… what else can I do to prove myself? I know I messed up… Anything I can do to, y'know, make up for it?"

When he finished, the two fox brothers looked to each other with a smirk that made both Tukson and Mantis in the bushes nearby anxious. The younger brother, whom Mantis figured was Fennec, pulled out a Scroll and uploaded an image on it for Tukson to see.

"As you know, a human by the name of Roman Torchwick has unfortunately taken up a rather prominent space within the White Fang. After he had been seriously injured a few months ago, Adam Taurus and his… associates have agreed to launch a hunt for this child." Fennec explained.

To Mantis' shock, a picture of himself back at that fateful day was on that Scroll. Tukson took one look and recoiled in abject surprise. "Wh-What!? A human kid!?" He barely managed to keep his voice from a total yell. "Indeed", Fennec answered, "The same child responsible for the destruction of the airship used to escape and the cause for Roman's injuries. The only thing close to a name we have currently is 'Psycho Mantis', likely referencing his powerful ESP-based Semblance. For reasons not given by neither Khan nor Taurus, it is required that this child is captured and brought to them alive. Should you have any information on this boy's whereabouts, or even bring him to us yourself, you can be assured that your standing with your White Fang brothers will be restored with no issue. In fact… you may even be granted an even higher reward for such a feat."

Tukson's surprise faded, turning into wariness. "So… if I just find this one kid, that'll be it? Well, if it's to put humans in their place… I'll get right on it."

Corsac and Fennec smiled coldly. "Splendid. Might you already have any ideas to his location or activities? You do happen to live near where the incident happened, after all."

Mantis waited with bated breath for Tukson's answer, watching as he mulled over it.

"Hmm… As a matter of fact… Sorry, no."

'… _What?'_

"Never seen that boy anywhere around my store. Hell, didn't even know he had a name until now. I'll definitely be poking around, though, don't you worry." Tukson affirmed. Mantis wasn't sure what to be more surprised by: The fact that Tukson was stating he'd never known or even seen Mantis, or the fact that he could sense no real intent to fix his errors with the White Fang.

"Well, if that's all, I'm afraid I need to head back. I do have a business to run, as you know." Tukson said. With a nod of understanding, the two brothers turned and calmly walked off in the opposite direction, smoothly disappearing into the thick foliage. As soon as they were gone, Tukson growled and began jogging straight back in the direction he came. He ran so fast, he nearly bumped into Mantis, who managed to lean to the side in time to avoid being noticed. Mantis stared at Tukson's retreating form until he was certain he was out of earshot.

'… _Alright, what the hell is going on!?'_ Mantis demanded as he rose into the air and rocketed off in a different direction, taking a separate route to get back to the bookstore without Tukson seeing him. His mind raced with questions. Why wasn't Tukson selling him out even though doing just that would definitely fix whatever problems he had with the White Fang? Why would the White Fang even want him alive despite the threat his power presents to them?

What of that hate-filled woman he'd surely made an enemy of? If Torchwick was associated with the White Fang, that woman had to be as well.

So caught up was he in his own thoughts that he almost didn't react in time to the intense flash of pure white light that completely blinded him. Skidding to a halt in mid-air, Mantis quickly turned away and lifted an arm to cover his eyes.

' _Wh-What the Devil is that!?'_

As the light died down, Mantis began hearing voices a few dozen feet ahead. Focusing, Mantis detected the presence of at least five people, whom he was stunned to recognize as part of the group he'd sensed earlier. To add to his surprise was the fact that one of them seemed to be emanating a powerful yet foreign energy, one that the psychic had never seen before, and simply screamed of courage and loyalty. Mantis found it difficult just to describe it due to its sheer alien qualities.

Then he heard the roar.

 _ ***"NGRRROUGH!"***_

The psychic froze in place. It sounded eerily reminiscent of forest bears… except totally and utterly lacking any life that all animals should possess. To any other person, it would've sounded like the generic movie monster roar one often hears in films, but Mantis could feel the deeper layers the sound held. It felt cold, empty, barren, and absolutely _monstrous_. And it chilled Mantis to the bone.

It screamed… of death.

Mantis was vaguely aware of the shouts and yells of terror that accompanied the devilish sound, clearly coming from the people he'd sensed coming into contact with the source of the roar. He shook off his hesitation and realized at once that it simply had to be one of the world's greatest threats he had read about but had yet to actually encounter yet: A creature of Grimm. Soon, excitement overtook fear as Mantis' mind pondered on just what these beasts must appear like in the flesh.

'… _Time to see if these so-called Grimm are truly deserving of their reputation.'_ He finally decided after only thirty seconds. He regained his composure and eagerly flew stealthily to where he'd sensed the group earlier. Soon enough, he came at another clearing and hid himself in the darker parts of the shadows. He arrives just in time to see what appeared to be a hellish, demonized bear-like abomination with black fur, white bone-like armor and eyes demanding for blood stalking over a large teenage male in strange armor similar to the knights of his world. Nearby was a blonde male who appeared to be the same age with similar yet fewer and different armor along with a sword at his side.

As Mantis looked on, the boy whom the beast was targeting brandished a large mace to threaten his attacker, but the demon simply swatted it aside like a harmless fly, landing near the scraggly, blonde male. The larger teen kicked up at the beast's jaw and hit hard enough to make it flinch, giving him enough time to kick himself back and scamper up onto his feet. Watching the poor boy attempt to run, Mantis realized that the young man somehow had tree sap splattered on his chest.

'… _That better not be the reason that it's even here. If just getting sap that bears naturally like off your body is enough to keep these bastards away, these Grimm will have officially lost all of my respect.'_

Then, however, another conundrum hit Mantis. These two young men were on their own against a literal beast from hell, and Mantis had the chance to use his power quickly enough to potentially kill it and be on his way.

'… _Nah.'_ He quickly decided, _"If these Grimm are truly dangerous, I need to see for myself just what they can do to mankind to deserve such fear from the populace. It will take Tukson some time to return to the bookstore anyway, and it doesn't appear that this will take long anyway.'_

With the lightest chuckle he could allow from his vocal chords, he thoughtfully added _'And it will rid this world of two more worthless bags of meat! A win-win; The result of Tukson's meeting and what these abominations can do. Not bad for a single day's results...'_

While he was thinking, the bear-like Grimm had leaped in front of the large teen and swiped him to the ground, roaring once more. Then, to Mantis' surprise, three other teenage girls appeared from the forest's depths. One was dressed similarly to the stereotypical Spartans of his world, with a bronze corset top, red mini-skirt, a belt attached to a circular bronze plate on one hip and two pouches on the other, bronze greaves and long gloves topped with rose red hair. Another was the palest girl Mantis had ever seen; Long white hair in a bun, white strapless dress, bell sleeved and red-lined white bolero, heeled boots, a white sash around her waist containing a pouch near her back, and snowflake decorations on her sleeves and skirt.

However, it was the third girl who stuck out the most to Mantis.

'… _Okay, WHAT in bloody Hell!? What are the odds!?'_ Mantis screamed on the inside, having recognized the girl as the one he'd met when they faced Torchwick and that vile woman as well as having spotted her minutes earlier while flying through the forest. He also saw that all of them were carrying what seemed to be advanced versions of melee weaponry; The taller armor-wearing girl was sporting some type of lance and hoplite shield, the white-haired girl was wielding a thin rapier, and, of course, the red-hooded girl held her enormous scythe like a child's plaything.

' _Well… at least now I hopefully see how these Grimm are dealt with.'_ He surmised, guessing from their weapons that these teenagers were in training to become huntsmen and huntresses. He was still nerved by the appearance of that familiar hooded girl, but decided to shove it to the back of his mind.

The boy who had the misfortune of getting sap on his clothes was still trying to get away, but the beast wasn't having it. All of a sudden, the bear-like monstrosity reared up and raised its enormous paw, ready to cut its prey down. It swung its arm down like a hammer, and surely would've dashed the boy to pieces were it not for the sudden action of the smaller, scraggly teen who managed to jump in at the last second and barely blocked the strike with a white shield he'd somehow been storing this whole time. Despite the fact that the monster had to be at least five times bigger than the boy, he mustered enough strength to hold back the beast's gigantic paw long enough for his supposed comrades to enter battle-ready stances. Well, except for the red-haired armored girl.

"… Wait!" She commanded, stopping the white-haired girl from launching a preemptive strike with her rapier. They all watched the blonde boy push off the monster's paw and deliver a slash with is blade that forced it back. However, it did virtually nothing to actually injure or even slow it down, and it quickly retaliated with another downward strike with its other paw that the boy ducked and rolled to avoid. He got up and jumped clear over a sidways slash from the demon that raked through the forest floor. The boy was vulnerable in mid-air, however, which the monster capitalized on and used to slam its fist directly into the boy's unguarded stomach. To Mantis' surprise, the scraggly male got up relatively unharmed and charged headfirst at the beast.

' _Fool.'_ Mantis shook his head simply as the Grimm merely swatted the child away. This time, it took the boy a bit longer to get up, and a concerned look overcame his features when he saw something on his Scroll. Correctly deducing this to mean that the boy's Aura was running low, Mantis stared with anticipation as the ursine beast charged at the boy with a menacing roar. The blonde knight, however, showed no fear whatsoever, and charged forth with his own battle cry. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the two neared, their weapons prepared to end the other's existence then and there.

That's when Mantis felt the strangest energy he'd yet to feel emanating from somewhere in the clearing. In the corners of his vision, he saw the red-haired girl reach her arm out to the boy, an arm which was outputting an incredibly alien energy. All at once, Mantis could not only feel the mysterious substance travel through the air and connect itself to the boy's shield, causing it to raise up to block an incoming paw strike, but also the vast array of emotions felt from everyone present; The larger male's shock at seeing his fellow huntsman-in-training fight the monster, the hooded girl and white-haired girls' anxiety of what was to happen, the red-haired girl's confidence and pride for the boy dueling the beast, and most of all, the blonde boy's intense determination and courage that easily overshadowed any and all doubts and fears he might've had. It was so much that Mantis didn't even realize that the energy emanating from the armored female made the boy's shield rise up to block the strike and allow him to chop the beast's head cleanly off it's bulky shoulders. Red leaves and petals flew into the air as the monster's decapitated body leaned over and crashed to the floor, ending its bloody existence.

' _Wh… What…?'_ The psychic asked himself in stunned surprise, more so from having sensed so many emotions from so many people all at once than the boy's surprising victory over the monster. That, and the strange energy that the armored girl emitted to manipulate the shield enough to block an attack from the Grimm.

"Uh… what?" Ruby asked Pyrrha in complete confusion. Of course, any of them could've done what Jaune did to that Ursa, but far faster and with much greater efficiency. However, even Ruby was able to notice the unnatural way Jaune's shield moved in order to block the Ursa's incoming attack, and combined with Pyrrha's hand motion only made her more confused. Weiss also seemed to have picked up on it, "How did you-?"

"Well," Pyrrha began, "Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs", she gestured to both of them respectively, "My semblance… is Polarity."

For all her knack of weapons designing and modeling, Ruby evidently had no clue what that meant. "Oh… you can control poles…" She breathed quietly, prompting Weiss to correct her. "No, you dunce! It means she has control over magnetism!"

"… Magnets are cool, too." Ruby said anyway, a distant look on her face. On the other side of the clearing, Mantis was still trying to comprehend how such a clearly inexperienced and untrained teen (he could just tell from his undisciplined movements) could have beaten such a large Grimm, especially one as towering as an Ursa. With a hint of disappointment, he was about to reach the conclusion that perhaps the Grimm weren't so deadly when he heard a quiet yet deadly, raspy bone-chilling hiss right behind him.

'… _Oh, shit…'_ Mantis thought as he slowly turned around, not making any sudden movements. To his amazement and shock, he looked up to see two enormous blood-red eyes the size of a human head boring into him, resting atop a diamond-shaped head tipped with large fangs, a double-ended tongue that whipped into the air, all of them connected to a single, long neck.

A King Taijitu. Specifically, it's black head. No doubt the other, white-colored head was nearby.

"GAH!"

Mantis instinctively dashed straight up into the air and dodged a sudden strike from the serpent, flying up above and spreading his arms out into their signature position.

"What was that!?"

"Is someone there?"

Mantis cringed, only then remembering that the teen warriors were still there. He turned and flew deeper into the forest, above the monster's winding body. He'd only just flew a dozen meters when a blur of red and white came at him from the side, prompting him to swerve downwards to avoid the white head's gaping mouth coming at him. He increased his pace, already hearing the Taijitu's long body shifting in the vegetation and following close behind.

' _Why me!?'_ Mantis cursed as he looked over his shoulder to see the white half of the Taijitu swerving around trees and across bushes, rocketing through the forest faster than a serpent its size should have. With a grunt, he locked his psychokinesis onto three trees ahead of him and uprooted them from the ground. He then turned around and launched one directly at the white snake head, which had opened its mouth to attack. As predicted, the tree lodged itself deeply into the Taijitu's throat, causing it to halt instantly and began squirming and choking, trying to cough it out. Mantis stopped and laughed at it.

"HA! Can't complain, you worthless serpent! Isn't vegetation supposed to be good for you?" He jeered.

 _ ***"HRRAGH!"***_

"Whoa!" Mantis yelled in surprise as the other Taijitu head came rushing out of the bushes at him. He managed to teleport in time, reappearing a dozen feet above it. He growled as he launched the other two trees at it, raising one into the air and swinging it onto the serpent's black head and ramming the other into its cheek from the side, dazing it. Looking around, Mantis quickly saw the midpoint on the Taijitu's body where its black and white halves were conjoined, which was colored a fitting equal grey.

However, before he could further think about it, the white head managed to spit out the tree it had been choking on and lunged straight at Mantis, who was forced to swerve to the side. The Taijitu head tracked him and twisted its body to chase him in mid-air, hissing hungrily for prey. Mantis had none of it and used his psychic power to send a cloud of red leaves from the ground up into its eyes, blinding and confusing it. He then pointed a palm to his side and created an invisible psychic wall to block a wall of teeth in the form of the black-colored head careening at him from that direction, and pushed the barrier forward to shove off the attacking head. Mantis moved his barrier to his front to block an attack from the white head and fly backwards, dissipating the barrier to save energy. The two King Taijitu heads hissed and snarled at Mantis from different directions, and maneuvered to either side him and coiled their necks like springs.

"Hey, over here! It went this way!"

Mantis looked over his shoulder upon hearing that voice and cursed under his breath. He needed to finish this quickly if he wanted to get back before he was found out by either Tukson or the teens who were evidently after the King Taijitu in the woods.

' _Damn it… Why is it always snakes!?'_ He snarled in his mind, glaring at the two Taijitu heads. All at once, the two sprung loose and lunged at Mantis, mouths gaping wide.

They did not possess nearly the amount of intelligence needed to know that it was a mistake.

' _I have had it up to here with all these filthy, damned, slithering SNAKES!'_

Mantis tilted his head back and growled loudly. At the same time, a powerful spherical barrier appeared around his body and pushed outwards, colliding with the serpent heads so hard that not only did they stumbled back, but their top two fangs on each head was chipped loose from their mouths. Not letting up, Mantis grabbed all four teeth telekinetically and launched them straight at the midpoint that connected the two halves. Like spear points, the disconnected fangs buried themselves deep past the King Taijitu's scales and penetrated into its innards, causing the two heads to hiss and flail wildly in pain. Ignoring them, Mantis aimed his open palm at the fangs for better precision and psychokinetically sawed straight through the King Taijitu's midpoint, the four fangs hacking up and down through fast enough to be barely seen as blurs until the two halves became undone in less than two seconds. Blood poured like a river from the disconnected halves, forming a dak pool between them. The two heads weakly tilted their necks to the sky, opened their mouths for a last, demonic screech…

 _ ***"SSSSSCREEEGGGHHHH!"***_

… Before both of them collapsed to the ground with a loud *thud!*, the twins sending up a much larger hail of red leaves and petals than the Ursa did minutes earlier. Two twins, black and white, once mighty killers of men… now no more than old, useless lumps of meat and bone.

"Go to Hell." Mantis snarled to them, still up above the half-and-hald beast and grimacing down at its now disintegrating corpses. It was oddly… satisfying.

"Hurry up! We can't let it get away!"

"I think I see something up ahead!"

' _Shit!'_ Mantis cursed, realizing that the three girls – including the red-hooded one – were nearing his location. He lowered to about ten feet off the ground and under the height limit of the surrouding trees, he sped off in the direction of Vale. Right now, it didn't even completely register that he'd just won his first encounter with the creatures of Grimm so quickly and easily.

All he could think about was how to deal with the knowledge that the White Fang were officially looking for him.

Finally, after several minutes of flight above the trees and crossing into the commercial district, Mantis found and recognized the bookstore from the sky above and quickly descended to the back door. He hastily locked it behind him after entering. He breathed a preemptive sigh of relief since he didn't sense anyone in the residence, and went about fixing anything that might give away the fact that he broke into Tukson's office and then snuck out. After several minutes of double-checking and looking around, he finally returned to his post at the front desk and waited for Tukson to eventually return.

And return, he did. Within about ten minutes, Tukson walked back into the storefront. To Mantis' surprise, he was carrying actual grocery bags with enough food to keep them going for at least a week and a half. However, Mantis could also feel high amounts of regret, frustration and unease radiating off of him, which was reflected in his tired and stressed visage.

"Oh, hello Tukson!" Mantis greeted, making it look as though he'd been there the whole time, "How did the outing go? Need help putting those groceries away?"

Tukson didn't respond right away, seemingly thinking deeply about the meeting Mantis had eavesdropped on. After a few seconds, he finally replied. "Uh, no, no, I'm good Mantis, thanks…"

Several more seconds of awkward silence.

"Uh… Tukson? Are you feeling well?" Mantis feigned sympathy and concern. Tukson finally took in a deep breath and let out a tired sigh before looking Mantis right in his lensed eyes. "Look, Mantis… we gotta talk."

'… _Shit.'_

* * *

 **A/N**

 **And that's it for this chapter! Tell me what you guys thought. I'm worried about the characters seeming OOC, which is something I seriously want to avoid going forward in a story like this. Kinda felt like this chapter was lackluster, which is probably a sign I need to get off my ass and keep writing this story more consistently.**

 **I'll try to keep updating more often rather than leave a cliffhanger for months on you guys, which I get is not cool. At all. Any questions or concerns can be PM'd, if you please.**


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